To Dethrone A Queen
by VictoriaLovesToLaugh
Summary: Clarke is running from her pack. Her family. The only home she's ever known. Why? She's found out a secret that she couldn't forgive. So she's running from her mother, her own pack, her friends, in hopes of starting over elsewhere. But when she is discovered, she hops on the back of a motorcycle with a stranger and runs to an uncertain future with two uncertain foes turned friend.
1. Chapter 1

Two months ago Clarke ran. She ran from her pack. From her friends and family. From the only home she's ever known. Why? Clarke had overheard her mother speaking with Jaha Thelonius. It wasn't the two's whispered words, nor the nature of their conversation that had her second guessing her entire life, but instead six simple words in the midst of their conversation. Those six simple words combined together made the decision for her. The conversation began only as a not so unusual chat between her mother and Jaha. It was normal for them to talk about Clarke's upcoming betrothal to a shifter, someone called Tristan, a boy she'd never met. She's used to their whispers, but something is different this time.

It's not the talk of Tristan, or the betrothal Clarke never wanted that makes her absolute hate for her mother and Thelonius grow to incomparable levels. Clarke's known for years now she has little choice in her life, little room for anything other than submitting to each and every one of her mother's requests.

Clarke's spent many years sneaking up on her mother and her advisors and listening in on their private conversations. Clarke has learned how to be deathly silent. Too many times had she been discovered and punished accordingly. The scars encompassing her body prove as much to those who dare to look a little closer.

No, it was when her mother began to speak about Clarke that her ears truly tune in and listen to each articulated word. It's in this moment, she learned a secret that would uproot her entire life. A secret that made the final decision for her. The final decision to run from what her life had become. Her scars both physical and mental have grown too numerous the past few years, as has her doubt in what her mother began to preach after the death of her father. Yet, she did not possess the courage to leave, to face the punishment of her elders should she run and ever be discovered. Those six words give her the courage she'd never possessed.

"What are we going to do Abby? I think she's catching on." Thelonius pressed a hand onto Abby's thin shoulder, quickly pulling back when her eyes turn gold and she nearly snaps at him. Clarke's mother was never one for expressing caring emotion, not even towards her own daughter. She certainly wasn't going to allow Thelonius to touch her.

"Clarke has always had my heart, but I think that after what her father tried to do… She's a liability. She's too much like her father. If we go through with this, she'll need to die. If we somehow get someone into her room the night of the wedding… The pack will believe it was the Grounders and we'll finally be rid of this truce. I can't stand having _them_ on _our_ land. This is Ski-kru territory… not Trikru territory…" Abby's voice lowers as she hisses.

"So like father like daughter? We'll eliminate the threat?" Thelonius looks to Abby for confirmation.

"Yes. We'll eliminate Clarke, the same as we did Jake." Abby agrees. _The same as we did Jake_ … The words echo back and forth in her mind. Clarke's eyes turn red with rage, yet her heart breaks with grief. However cruel Abigail had been to Clarke, to everyone, however forceful, this was still her mother. This was still the only blood relation she possessed. It hurt because this was still her mother, whom she had believed had truly loved her father, in whatever messed up way her mother could love anything. For months, Clarke has searched, and been dealt with over and over again looking for her father's killer. And here she was the entire time, right in front of her nose. Her mother, who has murdered her father.

That very night, Clarke packed a bag and escaped to her car. She told no one, not even her own pack who she trusted with her secrets, with her life. She didn't want to endanger any one of them, though by leaving maybe she'd make it worse? Or maybe they would follow her example and get out while they still could. She wants to go to them, tell them she's leaving. She wants gather each of them and take them with her, but it will be too much. They'll never get out. Some would refuse to leave because they do not know what she knows. This is the life they'd all become accustomed to, including Clarke. It would be no easy feat to rise against the fear rooted deep in all of them and walk away, only to fear discovery every day. If they were caught, there would be no rosy welcome back, there would only be torture for the pure disobedience and maybe the sweet release of death when no sound came from their broken bodies, when no thought crossed their shattered minds.

Clarke is not willing to risk them. She's willing to take that punishment if she is discovered. It would kill her to have to watch her mother find new ways to torment each of her friends.

Clarke had to escape now and find a way to get them out. She needed to get away, find a safe place and then send word to Trikru about going against her mother and giving full immunity to those that asked for protection. She needed to escape first, then she could send word to her pack. Her friends would abandon this pack if she asked them to. She was the rightful heir to this dynasty once her mother left or died. If Clarke herself left earlier than planned, instead of waiting for her mother to leave or die, she'd still be the rightful heir and an alpha in her own right.

No one stopped her as she left. No one tried to drag her back. No one expected her to leave.

 _Good riddance_. Clarke thought. She'd be glad to leave this place behind. Start over fresh. Maybe it would help fill in the void she carried in her heart after her father had died… _No_. After he'd been murdered, by her own mother and the person he believed to be his mate.

It was a cruel world she lived in.

Clarke travelled hundreds of miles away in hopes of never meeting one of the many trackers her mother would send for her. Even if Abby planned to murder her own daughter, she still needed Clarke alive and in her possession until the exact moment she intended to kill her. She would be furious. Abigail hated it when her plans did not go exactly as she had expressed.

Clarke grins at how difficult she plans to make it for her mother to get her back. If Clarke was not there to marry Tristan, there would be no alliance. Without that alliance, her mother couldn't go to war without making the first move, something she hoped to avoid.

Clarke starts over in a town somewhere in Virginia, hours upon hours away from where she'd been raised.

The first two weeks, Clarke spent as a wolf, hunting food, sleeping in the woods, watching her back. No one had followed her here. No one had been able to track her yet, not since she'd ditched her car a state over. From there she'd gone on foot hoping no one would track her as easily now that she'd ditched any kind of GPS.

The third week, Clarke found a job working in a bar. Luckily no one asked any questions when she couldn't present an ID, and walked in without any information. They hired her, believing her when she'd said she was twenty two. Clarke really was only eighteen and had just graduated high school, but no one needed to know that.

She'd found a cheap place to rent later that week. So far it was going good. Soon enough she'd be able to send word to Trikru and then her pack back home.

Her second month without any trackers or near escapes, Clarke finally ran into trouble leaving the bar after her evening shift. Standing outside leaning against the railing stood Finn Collins. He looked just as she remembered him, shaggy dark brown hair, and youthful expression looking at her like she was the moon.

"Clarke." Finn stands to his full height and stares her down. She looks back and forth hoping maybe there would be somewhere to run. But she is trapped. She couldn't just stay here. If she stayed he would make her go back and she refused to go back until she had an army behind her back.

"Finn…" Clarke is startled. Two months with nothing! Did she screw up? Was the letter she'd sent to Tristan intercepted by someone within the ranks of Trikru that worked for her mother? She'd left out her exact address, but it wouldn't be difficult to find her for whomever read the letter she'd sent.

"You need to come home. Everyone's worried sick about you." Finn was the youngest tracker belonging to the Ski-kru Pack, and he was one of the best. He was also her friend and her best friend's boyfriend.

"No. I'm not going back. You don't know what's happened there Finn! I can't go back. I won't go back." Clarke stares him down, fear in her voice, but resilience in her body stance. She would fight him if it came to it. She had to protect her pack from an all-out war. She had to protect herself from her mother and then find a way to free her pack.

"Stop Clarke. You're just getting pre-wedding jitters. I get it. Believe me, if I could get you out of that, I would princess. But I've already made my peace." Finn looks at her longingly and she has to look away. He belonged to her best friend, someone she was connected to. She only liked Finn as a friend, and ever since that kiss… She needed to stay far away from him.

"No Finn! That's just it. My mother… she plans to do something terrible. She's already done something terrible. Finn listen. She wants to start a war. A war Finn! Erase everything my father accomplished. It's not only that, she-" Clarke tries to tell Finn what she already knows but he isn't listening.

"Clarke I get it. You're worried. I am too. The alliance is shaky at best. But that's what the wedding is for." Finn sounds as if he's pleading with her, but she knows all he wants is for her to come back with him so he can have her to himself. Clarke would never do that to her best friend. Clarke would never do that to herself.

"No Finn, you're not listening. We've grown accustomed to what they've done to us, but it isn't right." She looks to the ground, worried, she'll have to fight her way out of this. She doesn't want to fight Finn, he is her friend. Someone part of her pack. Someone she didn't want to leave again, but had to because he just wouldn't understand.

"Princess… come home with me. Please." Finn begins to approach her and she knows that she will have to fight her way out of this. There's no other way. He won't listen and she can't stay much longer. He wouldn't be the only tracker on her trail.

A motorcycle races out of the road and slides to a halt behind Clarke. "Hey! Get on!" The rider yells to Clarke. Her voice feminine and direct.

Clarke takes a moment to debate between her options. Fight with Finn, one of her friends and run again, or hop on with this stranger dressed in black and take her chances?

After weighing her options, she decides that the woman dressed in black in the safer bet.

Clarke jumps on the back and quickly wraps her arms around the thin girl. She hasn't seen her face, but she has dark hair, nearly black in the surrounding night. In the fear of the moment, Clarke forgets that this is a stranger. Forgets her mother has sent people to find her. Who is this girl?

The girl takes off and they ride together into the night. Clarke takes a sniff and freezes. She's just gotten on the back of a bike with another one of her kind. Another shifter. Another tracker.

"My name's Octavia!" The rider calls out as they speed down the road.

"Why should I trust you? You're one of us! Are you working for my mother?" Clarke yells back, deciding that if she needs to, she'll let go and jump. A few bruises and cuts would heal within a day at most and they would be better than going back and being _dead._

"I am _not_ one of _you_." Octavia says with a sneer. "And no, I wouldn't be caught dead working for your mother."

"How can I know you're telling the truth?" Clarke snaps back. Clearly this girl is really good at acting or really does dislike Abby Griffin.

"You can't, but I'm betting you'd rather take your chances with me than pretty boy back there." Octavia's voice carries something like a smirk to it and Clarke realizes she's right. Clarke would rather take her chances with this stranger, even if she is working for Abby, than with Finn who she _knows_ is working for Abby. If she had to fight her way out, she'd much rather face a complete stranger than fight a friend.

They soon arrive at an abandoned building. Something that probably used to be a warehouse but shut down and hasn't been taken down yet.

"If you _were_ lying to me, and there's an ambush in there waiting for me, I swear that you will be the first one I kill." Clarke snarls her vow to the young shifter and then wearily dismounts and takes a step away from the tall girl.

"Not everything's about you, _princess_." Octavia mocks, obviously overhearing Finn's annoying nickname.

Octavia takes off her helmet and Clarke is hit with her beauty. Her green eyes look like trees in the woods and her tanned face shines with years of possible joy. Yet, her eyes grow hard the more Clarke looks at them, like her childhood had disappeared too soon and she'd had to grow up and face the world. She begins to wonder what had happened to the young girl who couldn't be any older than Clarke. Clarke saw her own reflection in the young girl's eyes. One that appeared no different, just another girl who'd been forced to grow up too soon, one who'd had to face horrors most grown men wouldn't have survived.

They walk into the dark building where Octavia soon stops. Clarke's eyes scan the open layout and sees nothing out of the ordinary. She scans the rafters next and again it appears the two of them are indeed alone.

"I know who you are Clarke and we need your help." Octavia pauses near the middle of the long room where she turns to face Clarke. Her arms cross her body and she stares Clarke down.

" _We?_ Who? Why do you need _my_ help? How do you even know who I am?" Clarke asks wearily peering around the room, especially the rafters and the shadowed corners… An ambush would truly be ideal here, there are too many places someone could go undetected. Yet as Clarke again scents the air she smells only Octavia and herself here. Her ears pick up no one hovering or hiding in shadowy places.

"We're going to make a trade. One only you can help us with. We've heard the rumours circulating. I'm pretty sure your mother didn't exactly want it to get out that you'd run, but I do hear that she's quite eager to get you back. She has something we want, and we have something she wants even more." Octavia shows no emotion on her face as she faces Clarke with yet another dilemma.

"What?" Clarke stands shocked. So Octavia definitely wasn't working for Abby, but she still wanted to send Clarke back. What did they want in return? What did Abbigail have that Octavia and the people she was working with wanted badly enough to send Clarke back into the clutches of her mother?

"You for the freedom of our mother." Octavia says, now with a hint of sadness to the tone of her voice.

"Your mother?" Clarke's confused. Abigail had Octavia's mother?

"Yes. Our mother has been trapped for two years and we finally have a bargaining chip that will set her free." The mournful look disappears from Octavia's face and a stony one replaces it.

"I am not going back." Clarke angrily turns to run out and take her chances elsewhere, but slams into a tall, hard body. In her panic she hadn't heard another body enter the room, she hadn't smelt him either. Sure enough though, he too was a wolf.

"Not so fast princess." Clarke froze staring up into his hateful dark eyes. The curls of his dark hair falling into his face. Clarke might have thought him handsome, if he hadn't just 1) called her princess the nickname she hated, 2) wasn't intending on trading her to her mother and 3) wasn't in an angry panic.

"You can't make me go back. You don't understand. Neither of you do. The only way I am ever going back there will be with an army at my back and the keys to set them all free." Clarke looks up at the young adult much like herself and back to the younger girl.

"You don't exactly have a choice." The new, very tall arrival, stands in front of her, crossing his arms, showing that she would make in nowhere before he stopped her.

"Wait." Clarke thinks to herself. Octavia wasn't a popular name, but she somehow recalled it. Octavia? Octavia Black? No that wasn't right. _Think, think Clarke_. Octavia Blake? Yes! That was her name! The Blake siblings whose mother was taken in for treason, about two years ago. Neither had been heard from since. The siblings whose mother was now _dead_.

She must explain this carefully or they may kill her out of spite.

"I'm sorry. You won't get her for me." Clarke cringes hoping that after telling them, they unlike Finn would listen to her pleas and not rush to kill her for the news she carries. Though from what she had heard of the siblings, she's not too sure she'll make it out of this unscathed. Octavia had a temper, one she'd heard that caused the girl to enter some kind of killing calm. Her brother however, his temper remained unrivalled.

If this girl really was Octavia Blake, then this, this man blocking her exit, and remaining close enough to crush her throat before she could even scream, had to be Bellamy Blake. She'd heard his name mentioned back home. She hadn't known him personally, but she had known of his reputation. His very violent reputation. If she wasn't careful, he'd crush her windpipe without a second thought as rage encompassed his entire being.

"And why not? You're Abby's daughter. She wants you pretty badly." The man she assumes to be Bellamy, arms still crossed, looks Clarke up and down. Clarke begins to feel a little self-conscious and turns away before she blurts out what she knows will probably get her killed.

"There's no easy way to put this, but you deserve to know the truth. You can give me back alive, dead, somewhere in between, but you will never get your mother back because she is dead." Clarke tries to put it as delicately as she can. There's only so much delicacy you can provide when breaking someone's heart.

Clarke feels for them, she really does. She imagines how she'd reacted to hearing her own father had been murdered. It had been instant the amount of pain, grief and crushing rage that had surged throughout her. This was different. She didn't have two years to hope, two years to plan to get him back. These siblings did. She was crushing two years of a dream reunion they could have had.

She remembered the execution. Almost two years ago to the day. Aurora Blake had been arrested after a second child had been found. She'd hidden her, Octavia, for fifteen years, but had been discovered. It wasn't a crime to have more than one child, but it was a crime to have a child with someone who was not your mate, even if your mate was dead. There were no second chances in Clarke's pack, not after her mother took control. After the arrest of Aurora Blake two years ago, the Blake siblings were banished and hadn't been heard from since.

Until today.

"You're lying!" Bellamy hisses, shoving Clarke against the nearest wall.

"No, I'm not. I went to her trial. He killed her, on my mother's orders. It was only a few months after you two had been banished. _I'm sorry_." Clarke chokes out.

"You're lying!" Bellamy angrily roars, his voice carrying throughout the abandoned building. Clarke truly, irrevocably wishes she was lying.

"Maybe not Bell… You know what Abby and Jaha have been rumoured to have done once we left. Even when we were still there, they weren't exactly Saints." Octavia calmly answers from the middle of the room where she is still standing.

Out of the corner of her eye, she thinks she sees a tear fall down the girl's face.

"I'm sorry." Clarke repeats as she sees spots just as Bellamy drops her. She quickly gulps in breath and coughs.

"I was there." She says. It was a horrible day. One she won't soon forget. "I speak the truth."

"No need to trade you, we'll just send you back in pieces!" Bellamy cries out.

"No wait! Please. My mother's done terrible things. Each one of us has experienced a part of those terrible acts. You wouldn't be helping yourselves, you'd be helping her." Clarke pleads with the two Blakes. She didn't want to die. She couldn't die, not here or back home, not yet. She would just have to convince them. Show them she was telling the truth.

"What do you mean?" Octavia turns to face the blonde once more, a terrible sadness in her eyes.

"Aside from all the shit she's done the past two years? My mother murdered my father, okay? She murdered him and I was going to be next. She planned this extravagant dinner where she planned to announce my betrothal to some Trikru shifter. She was going to kill me on our wedding night and blame it on them to start an all-out war. She wants to erase everything my father worked to accomplish. If I go back, she wins. If I go back, no one will fight for the others still trapped there. I have to stay out of her clutches so I can free them! You two have been gone for years! You don't even understand what's going on now! She's murdering us! She's torturing us! And she's not going to stop. Do you get that now? If I go back, there will be no one to save us. No one." Clarke rubs her hoarse throat and looks between the two Blake siblings.

"How do we know you're telling the truth?" Octavia asks, wearily taking in Clarke. Clarke's sure if the roles were reversed she would be weary of what her prisoner said.

"You don't, but I'm betting you'd rather take your chances with me, than with my mother." Clarke answers using a similar line to the one Octavia had earlier. "I ran to save my life and theirs. I can show you my scars, but that wouldn't be enough. There is no possible way to show you, to make you understand what exactly, she has put not only me, but the rest of my pack through the past year alone. She presents herself as some kind of merciful leader to everyone outside our world, but to those within, she has become the boogey man. If she succeeds in getting me back and killing me, not only will we suffer even further, but so will those within Trikru and various other packs. It's not only us she wants to punish, but the world. If she gets me back, she's succeed in beginning another war. She'll start with Trikru, but she'll be satisfied with only destroying them. She'll move on and come for the next and then the next and she won't stop. We need to keep her from succeeding because we only just got peace under my father. All it comes down to is that we just want to be free. I just want to be free."

A hot tear wells up and falls as she lets them take in everything she's said. She doesn't mean to be emotional, but with the mention of freedom, she can't help it. She may be free from her physical chains, but her mental ones remain. As do the quite literal chains she suspects her friends to be in as her mother discovered Clarke's betrayal and escape.

"We were going to kill you after the trade, once we got our mother back. Then find a way to kill Abby while she mourned. I suppose that's not exactly going to work now." Bellamy sighs, running a hand through his short dark curls.

"Wait. You plan to overthrow my mother?" Clarke's ears perk up at this new news.

"You got a problem with that princess?" Bellamy's eyebrow raises and he stares the younger shifter down.

"No. I want in."

"What?" Bellamy asked, clearly not hearing her correctly.

"I. Want. In." She pauses, taking in each brilliant little detail forming in her mind. "Look, I left a dynasty that was beginning to crumble. My mother is barely holding on. After what she's done, what she still plans to do, they will stand against her. We can all stand against her. Yes, that's good. I've only been thinking short term… If we can get rid of her we wouldn't ever have to worry about her again. We wouldn't just be saved, we would be free."

 _Freedom_. She can taste it on her tongue. Freedom not only for her, but her everyone back home.

"What exactly are you saying?" Bellamy asks, a small half grin beginning to light up his face.

"I'm saying that I have friends who would support us. Some who would join us. My friends, our pack, was the only refuge we had from her and we have all learned to hate her. I left them behind, but they will follow me. Not only am I the rightful heir, but with them backing me, with you beside me, we could lead us into a better future, away from the adults stuck in the ways of the past."

The smirk on Bellamy face only grows as he processes what Clarke is saying.

 _Yes, this would work_. She would gain allies and they would overthrow the woman hell bent on destroying them all.

Bellamy's gaze meets hers. "Fine then princess, it's time to dethrone a Queen."


	2. Chapter 2

*Five Weeks Ago*

Clarke couldn't believe they hadn't asked any further questions when she couldn't present her ID, but the Dropship didn't ask questions so long as no one caused any trouble. Tonight was her first night working a shift at the bar. The Dropship wasn't crowded yet, so the manager Lincoln had her wiping down tables.

Clarke couldn't help but feel paranoid and look out the windows. Every time she would hear a noise, she'd immediately tune in and sniff the air. Everything had her jumping and on edge. It had only been three weeks, but her mother wouldn't end the hunt, not until she was found.

Maybe she hadn't run far enough? Maybe she should have just kept going. Maybe it was naïve in staying in one place. She needs to create roots for herself, so she can begin establishing an alliance with Tristan behind her mother's back.

"Hey," Clarke jumps as she is broken from her trance by a deep male voice behind her. "Sorry, didn't mean to startle you."

"Just jumpy is all." Clarke stands back up and faces the tall, dark man covered in tattoos. He truly looked intimidating, but after the initial confrontation was over, Lincoln was a sweetheart. He had been friendly to Clarke all night and even went so far as to tell her the best places to draw after she told him she enjoyed art.

"I can see that. Anything I can do?" _Be on high alert for possible shifters that might come here to find me and possibly kill me or drag me back home so my mother can kill me._ "No," she answers. There was nothing she could tell this human. Nothing that would sound sane anyway.

"Alright, but if you need anything Clarke, let me know." Clarke nods as Lincoln wanders off. He was human, that much Clarke could tell. Yet there was something off. It was as if he knew something. It was as if something about him called out to her wolf, something not quite dangerous, and yet not quite friendly either. Or maybe Clarke was just paranoid. It was probably the latter.

There was something about him though that did seem familiar to her for some odd reason. To her knowledge she'd never met the man before. He wasn't a shifter so he wasn't from back home and up till three weeks ago, Clarke had never left home. It was definitely the paranoia.

That night went pretty smooth. As did the next week, but the moment Clarke went home to her little apartment after each shift and went to sleep, the nightmares came back. Once again haunting her sleep. Always there, ready to greet her the moment she shut her eyes. She'd tried to just avoid sleep altogether, but even a shifter needed rest. Then she'd run lap after lap intending to tucker herself out so that when she hit the pillow she'd automatically pass out and be too tired to dream, but that hadn't worked either.

It's like the nightmares have become a part of her just as her lungs, or her hands.

This night is no different. As she feels the wave of fatigue crash into her, she knows she will dream again, just as always of either her father or one of the many incidents she'd had with Thelonius.

Tonight, it happens to be her father.

 _From the moment Clarke arrived home, she knew, she just knew something was wrong. Her father wasn't there to greet her. He always came by to greet her when she came home from hanging with Wells, or Raven, or any one of her friends. But he wasn't there._

 _"_ _Dad?" She calls out, thinking maybe he'd got caught up in some office work. They may have been shifters, their preferred term, but they still had to have some kind of cover. Her father was a lead engineer at a local factory, her mother a doctor at the hospital. Most of their money they'd inherited from previous monarchs running this pack. The house too, but her father had insisted on helping the community and appearing as human as could be. Her mother only did it to please him and because it made her seem more 'human' instead of the cold being Clarke knew she was._

 _No one answered as Clarke dropped her bag at the end of the hall. Strange… Even by this point he would have called down from his office. He would have said something. Maybe he just wasn't here. But he was always here at this time._

 _Always._

 _Beginning to climb the stairs to the second floor, Clarke knew something was more than wrong. She could feel it in the air, her wolf bristling beneath her skin. Goosebumps rise on her skin as she walks down the hall to where her father's office was._

 _A deep breath told her blood was in the air. Her father's blood. She knew his scent. She knew the scent of each individual pack member. Had known them from infancy. Now she knew for sure._

 _Something was dreadfully wrong._

 _Clarke ran to his office, pushing the door open and walking into a blood bath. There wasn't much left of her father. Not together anyway. That image would haunt her for the rest of her days. She wants to vomit, wants to cry, but nothing comes out of her mouth._

 _Blood coats the walls, the floor, his desk, his chair… Screams echoed in the air. A struggle had taken place here. This was no murder, this was a massacre. A massacre of the alpha. This would not go unpunished._

 _Clarke ran to her father's side, hoping, praying there was some life left in him, some part of him she could heal. That was what they did. One drink of another pack member's blood and wounds would begin to heal. So she ripped open her wrist with razor sharp teeth, pressing it into her father's mouth. Somewhere deep within she knew he was gone, that this was just an empty shell. Yet she cried and screamed bloody murder, all the while forcing more of her blood into his mouth. There was no way her father was dead. He'd survived assassination attempts by both other packs and humans alike. Nothing had stopped him before. How could something like this have happened with no one here to witness? No one here to help? Whoever had done this knew he'd be alone right now. Knew he was at his most vulnerable. Whoever that person was, would pay with their life. And Clarke would be the one to take it._

Once more she woke screaming, drenched in sweat. The picture of her father's torn and broken body littered around the room, haunting her sleep. She takes a moment to throw up in the bathroom. Tears would get her nowhere. Tears wouldn't bring him back. Nothing could do that now. Only his memory would live on, and Clarke would make sure it did. She would ensure that through her, his legacy would live on.

He had wanted to make a lasting alliance with the Trikru Pack. One that would last through her marriage to Tristan. One that she would ensure would happen, but her own way. Her mother wished the alliance, only so she could kill her own daughter. Her mother had never wanted that alliance. Had never wished to bow to anyone.

Clarke believes her mother loved her once, but power got in the way. Clarke could do without power. She wished with all her heart that she could just blend in here and _live,_ forever if she could. Her father would have wanted her to live, but not as a coward, hiding in the shadows while all others she loved and cared for suffered in the light.

She would go back and face her mother, take down her dynasty and rebuild it the way her father would have wanted. She would be the ruler her father knew Clarke could become.

But not today. Not tomorrow. Probably not the next day either.

Clarke needed to heal. She needed to recover and gather her strength. If she was going to do anything tomorrow, she was going to need to survive today.

*Present Day*

Clarke looks between Bellamy and Octavia, still frightened. They may have just made an alliance to take down her mother's dictatorship, but she didn't believe that they would just forgive her for her mother's crimes against them and their own mother. Not when Bellamy's smirk had disappeared and been replaced with a cold look.

"I should go." Clarke says breaking the silence. She wanted to be away from these two right now. She wanted to go back to her apartment where she felt safe… but she wasn't safe. Not there. Not anymore. Finn surely knew where she'd been living. He wasn't the best tracker for nothing, he'd found many traitors, led assassins to the soon to be assassinated and knew her well enough to find every nook and cranny she'd hidden in.

She couldn't go back to her apartment, so where _would_ she go?

"Tell me how she died." Octavia's voice startles Clarke and she stares at the strong girl who in this moment seems so frail.

"You don't want-" Clarke is cut off suddenly.

"Answer the question." Bellamy barks at her and she knows that maybe they should know. Know what her mother is capable of. Know what she'd left behind. Know who they'd be fighting against. Know what horrors they had somehow managed to escape by being banished when they were.

"Aurora Blake was executed while my father," She must pause for a moment to catch herself before she cries. This was no time for tears. She had to harden herself if she wanted to move on. "My father was out of town. He was away with David Miller and Marcus Kane reaching out to another pack. I think he was trying to make another alliance, but that's not what matters. Just know if he'd been there, she would still be with us.

"My mother told everyone there would be an execution of a traitor the day after my father left. I didn't understand at the time. We hadn't had an execution since before I was born. Anyways, we were told to head out to the forest where pack meetings were held."

Clarke remembers that day. Remembers the screams. Remembers the blood. The body. Remembers the chills that ran down her spine.

 _"_ _Come Clarke, we are the leaders, we stand at the front." Abby looked at the then sixteen-year-old Clarke. The young girl, still full of innocence._

 _The woods that day held a breeze and a secret of blood soon to be spilled. The air brushed against her with a chill and her wolf felt weary inside of her. The trees stilled as the pack entered deep into the woods._

 _Clarke stood by her mother atop a platform looking out at the members of their pack. She wondered what crime had been so horrible that an execution would take place. What had this traitor done? No one had been killed that she remembered, but maybe something even more dreadful had occurred. Something her mother was protecting her from. Or maybe a murder had been committed by this shifter but in another pack and retribution was called for._

 _"_ _We gather here today to witness the execution of a traitor. The woman known as Aurora Blake." Abby looks out onto the unfazed crowd. Some Clarke notices, gasp, but most nod in agreement. Clarke couldn't remember Aurora being a bad person, nor could she make herself believe that she could be a traitor. She was a peaceful, quiet woman who had kept to herself. She had a son that Clarke had heard of, but never crossed paths with, because he too lived a secluded life. Then one day their life went up in flames. A daughter was discovered, one not born of Aurora and her dead mate, but created outside the pack with an unknown male. Clarke had never seen a problem with it, but she didn't make the rules. She vaguely remembered the day about a two months ago when the two children, Bellamy and Octavia were banished. That day was not made a spectacle, not like this one._

 _"_ _Aurora Blake hid her bastard daughter underneath the floor in her home for fifteen years. Two months ago, that girl was banished and her brother, regrettably followed. That child was not born of our pack. You all know that once a mate is chosen, we mate for life. There are no second chances." The crowd roars in agreement. This was a well-known law for centuries. There wasn't a wolf who didn't know of it. Only a handful in the Ski-kru pack's history had ever disobeyed it and they had been punished accordingly, as her mother drilled into her head many times._

 _"_ _Aurora Blake's mate died during a raid seventeen years ago, before the second child had been conceived." Abby continues, addressing the pack. "It is a crime to take a second mate. Furthermore it is a crime punishable by death to take a mate outside of this pack. Aurora Blake consorted with a known enemy of this pack, one who she conceived a child with. It is not that child's fault, but she cannot be here when she is born of our enemy. This is why Octavia Blake was banished, with punishment of death if ever she returns. Bellamy Blake also decided to follow his sister in that regard. Now we must face_ this _traitor and be rid of her. Let it be known that Aurora Blake is sentenced to death on punishment of consorting with the enemy."_

 _Clarke can't remember a time under her father's reign when someone had actually been executed for a crime no matter how serious. Banishment had been the furthest it had gone. Even Aurora Blake had simply been jailed. But Clarke had no right to question her mother, her alpha, the one who held the power here, now that her father was away. So, she watches._

 _Aurora Blake is escorted out in front of the platform by Thelonius Jaha, Abby's confidant and general. Clarke had never liked him. He'd been strict with her and had gone so far as to punish her on her mother's orders now and again. He was Abby's enforcer, her jailer and some would secretly whisper, more than just a confidant._

 _Aurora is shoved to the ground, many of the older wolves, those before Jake's time, cheer and call for not only blood, but also her head. Younger wolves like Clarke, she notices look confused, and unsure of how to react. This hadn't been the pack they'd been born into. They hadn't known death and destruction under Jake Griffin. Though from this point on, Abby would grow more in control and things weren't about to get better, but worse._

 _Aurora's hands were first chained with pure silver handcuffs and she screamed as they burned her flesh. Her screams pierced Clarke's ears, and Clarke turned away unable to watch this._

 _"_ _Watch Clarke." Abby tugged Clarke's face forward._

 _"_ _I can't. Mother I can't watch this." Clarke begged her mother. She couldn't watch this. This was wrong, Clarke knew that, but she couldn't question her mother. She was the alpha, she was in charge. If Clarke so much as said one word against it, her mother would have her locked in a cell and beaten without being allowed to heal, for days, maybe a week depending on how embarrassed her mother became._

 _"_ _You_ will _watch this Clarke. You are an example to these people Clarke. If you look away, what kind of example does that create? One of disobedience and that is unacceptable. One day you will be expected to hand out these punishments and be very clear on this Clarke._ I will ensure that you do _." Abby releases her face and nods to Thelonius who stands above Aurora. Aurora stares into Abby's eyes, a challenge of defiance clear._

 _"_ _Traitors do not deserve an honourable death." Abby shouts to the crowd and Thelonius takes out a knife and slits her throat with a blade made of silver. Clarke gasps and shudders as a chill like no other embraces her entire body. Tears rolls down her face as she watches the woman choke and gurgle as blood pours down her front, staining her shirt and the ivory skin of her neck. Blood bubbles at the corner of her mouth as she falls to the ground and jerks a few times before falling still._

 _One final tear rushes down Clarke's face as she has no choice but to watch until her mother final drags her away and leaves Aurora's body to the birds._

Clarke would always remember that day as clear as the day her father died. And she would never forget. Nor would she ever forgive.

"Your mother was killed in front of the pack. Her throat was slit with a silver dagger after her hands had been bound with silver. Know that she stared down my mother until the moment she died." Clarke wanted to leave them with the knowledge that their mother hadn't submitted in the end.

"We are going to avenge her." Bellamy growled beneath his breath.

"Yes, just as I will avenge my father. But we need to think clearly." Clarke echoes his anger, but it is not the time for rash thinking.

"I'll be thinking clearly when I plunge my teeth into Abby's throat and feel the blood coat my mouth." Bellamy stares at Clarke, his eyes fully black now. Clarke can feel his temper and the shift about to come on from across the room. The power enveloping the room molds with Clarke and her slight anger and fear grows to rage as well. It is as if his anger is so strong it was broadcasting to each within the room and seeping into her core.

"Enough!" Octavia hisses shoving her brother hard in the chest. "You're making my skin crawl. I'm mad too, but there's nothing we can do today. Clarke's right, we need to think about this. We need her people, without them we've got no strength or power. That exists in a pack Bellamy. Ours is too small. We need to go tell them we've got the princess on our side."

"Won't they be so ecstatic to see her." Bellamy grins with his teeth, obviously showing aggression towards her, their moment of agreement earlier forgotten.

"I don't care if they do or don't. Right now, I'm tired and I want to go home." Octavia looks tired. She looks almost broken. Clarke felt that way after her father died. She can sympathize with this girl. Maybe if their lives had been different they would have been friends.

Bellamy takes Clarke's arms and pulls her out of the warehouse and in front of a bike. Bellamy releases her and grabs something.

"Alright, c'mon princess. Hop on." Bellamy throws Clarke a helmet and hops on his motorcycle, much the same as Octavia's.

"I think I'll take my chances elsewhere." Clarke holds out the helmet with a glare. She didn't like him. She didn't trust him and she certainly didn't want to touch him.

"I don't bite." Bellamy grins, pulling on a jacket and hopping on the motorcycle.

"I've heard that before." Clarke scowls and looks for Octavia who seems to have disappeared somewhere else. Where was she? Where was her bike? Clarke would much rather ride with the coolheaded girl.

"If you're looking for Octavia, she ran out the back. She'll join us later."

"I'll ride her bike then."

"This is her bike."

"Then I'll walk." Clarke tosses the helmet back at Bellamy. There's no way she was riding with him.

"I'm not letting you out of my sight, princess. We've tracked you for far too long to lose you. You'll be staying in constant eyesight of me so that if you try to run I'll be there to drag you back." His eyes tell her he's serious. His tone deepens. Maybe if she runs out the back now, she'd outrun him. He's big and built for strength. Her, she's lithe and built for agility. She'd easily outrun him.

"Don't even think about running. I've got your scent memorized now. There's no place you could run to that I wouldn't find you." The threat is there, and maybe a hint of something else.

So she hops on behind him and gently wraps her arms around his chest, only just barely touching him. Yet they aren't leaving.

"Put the helmet on." Bellamy insists, turning around to look at her as he holds it out again.

"Why? You're not wearing one." Clarke snaps back.

"Because princess, I need that head of yours unbroken." Bellamy answers with a sarcastic tone.

"You can always heal me." She snaps back.

"Put the damn helmet on Clarke. You fall and break your tiny little neck, no one can heal you. Not here. You're an outsider Clarke and this is our territory now. You have no pack here." And Clarke realizes he's right. She doesn't belong to his pack. She doesn't have anyone to heal her if she injures herself. She needed a pack member to do that. She has no one to trust. She's alone out here.

After the helmet is secured on her head, Bellamy speeds away into the night to a place where Clarke could be safe or be killed, depending on just how much the rest of the Blake's pack hates her mother. There's no way to tell. Her life is resting in the hands of two young shifters who are as likely to help her as they are to kill her. Clarke hopes as they drive into an uncertain future that she's strong enough for what is coming.


	3. Chapter 3

*Bellamy's POV*

Bellamy and his mother had worked for years to keep Octavia hidden. Bellamy didn't ask his mother why he had to keep his sister a secret when all the other kids who had a sister didn't. He didn't need to be told that if she was discovered, something bad would happen. There had always been some part of him that had known, deep down, his sister wasn't a secret that everyone would just accept.

He had been five years old when his sister was born. He remembers his mother's cries and moans as she forced herself to birth Octavia without anyone's knowledge or help, save five-year-old Bellamy. She came crashing into the world blue in the face with a piercing shriek that Bellamy had to instantly find a way to shush while his mother rested for a moment. He was the first to hold her, this tiny little bundle of flailing limbs and sticky goop.

The moment she settled, there was a moment when he looked right into her eyes and she gazed right back.

It was this instant, this exact second shared between two souls who knew nothing of the world, when Bellamy acknowledged that up till this moment, he'd only thought he'd known what love felt like. He loved the pancakes his mother made every Sunday. He loved reading Ancient Greek myths to his mother. He loved playing soccer with the boys down the road. But none of that compared, not even remotely, to the love he felt fill his entire being when she locked eyes with him. This was a love so pure, so bright, that he became utterly captivated by it.

That was the moment Bellamy vowed to himself that no one would ever hurt her and to ensure that, no one could ever know of her existence, no matter how much he might want to share her with the world. His teachers could never know she was born. His friends could never come over and see her in the tiny makeshift crib his mother had made.

No one could know.

No one could be allowed close enough that they would ask questions.

He would protect his sister and that meant that Bellamy would need to change. He was only five, but he knew his life would never be the same again, but he didn't care. Not right now.

His mother told him that he should name her. It didn't take him long before he'd found the perfect name for his perfect little sister. He'd read so much about ancient history and a name came to mind, one that he thought would suit both his sister, and his need to share his love of history with her.

"Augustus had a sister, her name was Octavia." He had said out loud, thinking about the man in the history books he'd been reading. When his mother didn't protest, he smiled at his sister and whispered her name to her. It was a strong name. A powerful name.

That day and onwards, his mother would remind him that Octavia, "Is your sister, your responsibility." He didn't need his mother to remind him because he'd sworn his own vow to himself the second she was pressed into his arms. He'd taken his vow and his mother's words to heart and had always looked out for her. The day she'd been discovered, it had been his fault and he'd never forgiven himself. He would carry that blame with him forever. He'd been so stupid and careless. It broke his heart to see his sister trapped day and night. He'd just wanted to take Octavia out to shift. Just once, he wanted her to feel the grass beneath her paws and the fresh air in her lungs as she sprinted through the lush woods. It was annoying shifting indoors, especially when the wolf feared and detested it. A wolf belonged outdoors and that is what he'd told her.

The look on her face when she at last felt grass beneath her feet, and smelt real, fresh air, filled him with a true feeling of rightness. She'd grinned and smiled at him and he'd grinned right back. That is what she should get to experience every damn day. That is what she shouldn't have had to hide from.

They ran for hours that day, just as wolves; Octavia finally getting the freedom she longed for, Bellamy finally getting the chance to experience this with his sister. Returning home however, they found a guard by the name of Shane Johnson searching the home. It wasn't long before he noticed them trying to run. Octavia was taken, and his mother arrested. A thousand things ran through his mind, but he couldn't move his feet. What was he supposed to do?

Bellamy surrendered.

At Octavia's trial, Jake was sympathetic to him, but some laws couldn't be changed, no matter how much Jake wanted them to. His wife Abigail fought for the banishment, for the laws to be upheld. Jake didn't stand a chance when his council voted against him and vetoed any chance of Octavia having even a fraction of a chance to stay.

Octavia was banished.

 _My sister, my responsibility_ , echoed over and over in Bellamy's mind during her trial.

Octavia looked so frightened and helpless. He had to help her. He had to save her. So, he volunteered himself to go with her. He couldn't leave her alone. She knew nothing of this world. Someone had to look out for her, protect her.

And that would always be him.

The two were banished that day, never knowing the fate of their mother. Deciding they'd never look back as the gates to the private community closed behind them forever. Running into an uncertain future was not ideal. Lone wolves didn't survive long, especially young ones. Either they were killed by humans, hunters or another pack, or they died from seclusion.

That's when Bellamy began his own pack. He ruled as a young alpha and took in kids who'd been banished or had run away from packs that refused to accept them. He called his pack the hundred. It was more intimidating than the seven. And so far, it had kept them safe.

Almost a year to the day after the sibling's banishment, word reached them that their previous pack's alpha had been murdered, not that they really cared, but Jake had been kind to them so they broke the rule to never look back to hold a minute of silence. It wasn't their pack anymore and all that mattered was finding some way to free their mother. When not ten months later, news that the alpha's daughter no less had gone missing, either taken or a runaway, Bellamy knew their opportunity to strike back had come. He put all his resources out to find her. If they could just get her, they'd have a good enough bargaining chip to get their mother back.

A month later, they found her working at a bar that asked no questions and guarded its secrets with a pointed dagger. Even though they had found her, it was no easy task to snatch her. Bellamy found it ironic that out of all the possible places to run to, she'd somehow, unknowingly chosen his territory to hide in. She had no idea the number of enemies she had, now that she was no longer protected by her mother or her pack. She was an alpha's daughter. That alone would be enough to put a target on her back, but her mother was hated around these parts and others Bellamy assumed. Rival packs would want leverage over the Griffin's, or even to strike a blow that would weaken them to be ripe for a takeover. Killing the alpha's only daughter would be a good way to accomplish that. Others may target her just for vengeance against her mother for decisions made against them, or murders of their pack members, either for straying too far or in the thralls of war.

She was lucky she'd managed to hide for so long without being discovered.

Bellamy didn't have that many resources, so if he'd somehow gotten word of her disappearance, then many others who did have the resources sure would have. It would only be a matter of time before some other shifter came sniffing up her trail.

Bellamy needed to get to her before that happened. If someone else got her first, he'd have no leverage against her mother. He'd have nothing to get his own mother back or return the light to his sister's eyes.

Yet, it proved surprisingly difficult. Not only did she guard herself carefully, and give all of them the slip every time she left the bar, but she was also carefully watched by the bar's manager. It was as if he'd become some sort of protector for the girl. He kept his eyes up and his ears open, always ready.

The hundred would need to find the most opportune moment to strike. It took longer than anticipated but finally they had.

Somehow the girl with the golden hair who Bellamy had dreamed of ripping apart piece by piece in front of the woman who had convinced the entire council to banish his sister and jail his mother, had convinced them to become allies.

They wouldn't be using her as a bargaining chip. They wouldn't be killing her. They wouldn't be getting their mother back. They would be _allies_. Allies with a spoiled princess who he wasn't entirely convinced wouldn't just bolt the first chance she could. _Allies_. He wanted to spit the word out.

He didn't buy this act she paraded around in. She was no better than all the other shifters who'd watched his mother be murdered. Yet, there was a look in her eyes, one that spoke of true horrors that no one could simply pretend to have endured.

They'd be allies for now. As long as they needed her, Bellamy would keep her close. Once she'd served her purpose, he would kill her or if he was feeling particularly generous that day he'd spare her miserable life and send her on her way. He hated her for watching as his mother suffered. He hated the family she was born into for making his sister hide for most of her life. He hated her because her ancestors created a law that forbid Octavia from existing. He hated her because that law forced him to become an adult when he was meant to be a child.

He hated her because they needed her and the numbers she could provide to get revenge. He hated her because he hated admitting he needed help. He'd been independent all his life. He'd never needed anyone else, yet here she was convincing them that they needed her to defeat her mother.

It's not all her fault. He knows that. She's not to blame for everything he wants to hate her for.

But Bellamy doesn't want to admit that he's blaming one girl for everything that's gone wrong in his life. It's just easier to hate her.

Especially when she holds onto him like he is beneath her.

Clarke holds loosely onto him, almost as if she's afraid that actually holding on would pass on some kind of disease to her. _Privileged princess_ , he grumbles in his head. The moment they reached their destination he intends to lock her up and show her what they thought of the privileged in their pack.

Their destination was an abandoned house on the outskirts of town. It was close enough to the city that a direct attack couldn't be brought to them, but far enough away to keep their lives secret. Being secretive and safe was what had kept their little pack alive thus far and Bellamy was going to see it stay that way.

Bellamy knows someone is home when they pull into the gravel driveway when he sees the light coming from the first story window and the scent of something cooking. If Bellamy had to guess he was betting the boys were making steak again. Not that he minded.

"Get off." Bellamy roughly jerks his shoulders back into the princess until she growls into his ear and slides off the bike.

"Watch it Blake. You might not bite, but I do." Bellamy chuckles at the warning glare she gives him before tossing the helmet back at him. Her blue eyes glow dangerously bright, but he's itching for a fight.

"Calm down princess." His voice deepens as he takes control and creates an aura of authority. Still, as much as he was an alpha here, so was she. And she knew it.

"Don't tell me what to do. You don't own me and I'm not your prisoner." Clarke shoves into his side as she passes him, her scent washing over him as she drifts away. Jasmine with just a hint of pine, that's what she smelt of to him. Such a sweet scent for such a bold and argumentative young girl.

"You might want to watch it. Right now, you're only alive because Octavia wants it." Bellamy grips her arms and pushes her forward into the house with the friends he'd begun to call family.

*Clarke's POV*

The scents in the house overwhelm Clarke. They overpower her senses. Five new scents hit her immediately on entry, then another she recognized as Octavia's and two fainter but distinctly familiar scents. Familiar, but obviously different because it couldn't even be possible. Clarke can smell three distinct male scents, and another four female. Bellamy's scent hits her strongly as it not only surrounds her but encompasses this entire place; His territory. Octavia's is all over the place too, but not overpowering. It's as if it has been a day since she'd been here.

Her ears pick up people grilling about two rooms over. One is a male, who sounds as if he's doing the grilling and a female who is chatting with him. Clarke detects another female doing something that's causing her to grunt with frustration at least a floor below them. The second male she detects in the house is hiding behind the door. She doesn't know why and she's not sure she wants to. The fifth occupant, another male, she couldn't hear, and Octavia was clearly not here right now. The familiar scents within the house could simply be a delusion from the stress of the night and belong to other shifters she's sure are around, somewhere.

"They won't try to hurt me, will they?" Clarke asks, continually assessing the situation with the male hiding behind the door. His scent intrigues her. It holds a bit of fear, anxiety, curiosity and anger. If he leapt out at her she wouldn't hesitate to protect herself.

"Not unless I give the order. I'm in charge here princess." Bellamy roughly grips her arm tighter and drags her with him from the hallway and into what she assumes is a living room, although it looks like a dump. Two couches that have definitely seen better days press against the wall in an L shape and a small flat screen TV is mounted on the furthest wall. The scents rest heavily in this room, indicating to Clarke this is the social gathering room.

"Sit down and then we'll have a nice chat." Bellamy releases her arm abruptly and she falls forward onto one of the couches. She allows a disgusted look to grace her face.

"Not up to your standards, princess?" Bellamy stares her down with a look that says he's contemplating harming her.

Clarke rolls her eyes and chooses to ignore the question.

"You know, if you just ask me nicely, I'll actually co-operate." Clarke stares him down. His dark eyes don't intimidate her, not much did anymore. She'd seen things, heard things, been through things that no one should have to. Bellamy Blake was just an arrogant pig and she'd dealt with worse.

"And where would the fun be in that?" Bellamy watches her with a hint of amusement in his eyes. He folds his arms across his broad chest, showing off the muscles in his arms. God she hated that damn smirk. She would wipe it off his face with a well-placed hit if she believed it would keep him from doing it again. _Allies. They were allies now, so act it Griffin_. One of these days she would put strength and agility to the test and see who came out on top.

Clarke merely answers with a defiant look, folding her arms across her own chest and relaxing against the cushions. If he insisted on being a nasty host, then Clarke would insist on being an uncooperative guest. She could sit and be silent for days if that's what it took. He would treat her with respect or he'd get nothing, including her help.

"What do you want Clarke?" Bellamy caved, clearly annoyed. How very impatient of him. At least Clarke knew he wasn't patient. She'd use that to her advantage in the future. If she had the opportunity.

"First, I am your guest. A drink would be nice. Second, as you keep saying, I'm a princess in my own right, so I want some respect. Third, I'm not the girl you think I am, so don't judge a book by its cover. And that settles it. Once I get my drink, we can have our chat." She purses her lips and stares him down. He might be the alpha here, but she was also an alpha. It was in her blood, it was her legacy. She wouldn't let him boss her around, she was finished being a puppet shuffled about by whomever held her strings.

"As you wish, princess." Bellamy gives her a mock bow with a scowl on his face.

Moments later, Bellamy appears in the door with a glass in his hand and two more males and a female behind him. The first male looks like a jackal or a snake to Clarke. His hair slicked back and a face looking of betrayal. She recognizes his scent as the male hiding behind the door. The second male she feels she has known before, possibly another of her pack. If she had to guess, he'd been young when he'd been banished or left of his own accord. Though he seems familiar, she cannot place his name. She faintly recognizes him, remembering whom she thought as a young boy. They'd obviously not been close. The female has darker, wavy hair, wrapped in a messy bun atop her head. A gentle scowl of curiosity rests on her face, but she seems to Clarke to merely be all bark, no bite.

As Clarke's gaze jumps over the female who'd been in the kitchen, her eyes shift to a newcomer pushing his way through the hall and the crowd. It takes a moment for Clarke to realize that this is not a delusion and it is indeed real. She blinks a few times, trying to comprehend why he is here, how he got out, how he got here, how against all the odds they have managed to find each other.

He stops when he's pushed ahead of the others and just as it took Clarke a moment to take it in, he blinks at her as if he's not sure she's real or just a mirage. Three seconds. That's how long it takes him to decide she's real and nearly bulldoze her over with the force of his hug. Two seconds. That's how long it takes for her to squeeze him back and decide she's never leaving without him again. One silent, tear of complete relief, rolls down her cheek.

 _He had made it_. She's not the only one who escaped. _She's not alone here_. Not anymore.

His name is Nathan, but everyone had called him Miller and he'd been one of her best friends. He'd been at her side through the best and worst years of her life. He, unlike all the others in this fast crowding room, understood. He got it.

She finally pulls away from him, taking in his appearance. His darker skin and deep chocolate gaze are as familiar to her as her own hands. She runs a hand over his cheek where a new scar graces his cheek. Rage sweeps through her. At first at their prior captors. _Who had done this?_ Then at herself. _She hadn't been there to protect him_. His hair is wind swept as if he'd just come inside, which is likely the reason Clarke hadn't smelt his scent as strongly earlier.

"Clarke?" He takes her face into his own hands, running them over her cheeks, taking a scan of her body, looking for differences since they'd seen each other last, just as she is. He sounds afraid, as if this might be a dream and she will disappear.

"Nathan. It's real. I'm real." She smiles up at him, finding much needed comfort in his presence. He closes his eyes as a relieved look overcomes his features.

"Say it," He closes his eyes, taking in a deep breath as she whispers in his ear the words they'd whispered each time they'd been separated and reunited. The words, used to prove they were real and not one of the delusions created in their minds by their tormentors. The words an anchor meant to pull them back from the brink.

"Are you alone?" Clarke questions, not in regard to physically alone here, but in being the alone in escaping.

"You think he'd still be alive if he'd escaped all on his lonesome? That idiot wouldn't be able to tell the difference between left and right without a hand to guide him." Clarke pauses as she instinctively knows exactly who has arrived. The girl wouldn't have even had to say a word and Clarke would have known. Her presence alone awakened a piece within Clarke that had been slumbering since the moment she'd left and hadn't looked back.

Miller needs no instruction, verbal or otherwise. He steps aside as Clarke looks over his shoulder and makes eye contact with the owner of those words. In only seconds, Clarke has thrown herself at the girl, who chuckles before gripping her back just as tight.

They exchange no words, everything they want to say is conveyed in their embrace. _I missed you. I'm sorry. You're safe. It's been so hard. I'll never leave again. Let's never do this again_.

"Oh, Gods Raven, I've- it's-" Clarke doesn't get a chance to finish.

"I know. Me too." Raven squeezes Clarke's arm, while giving her a remorseful half smile. They will speak later, without so many prying ears.

"You both made it out. All three of us made it out." Clarke's eyes light up as they land first on Miller, then her other best friend, Raven. "How? I mean when? Did the others get out?" Hope coats her voice at the possibility they'd all just got up and left together. Though something gnaws at her insides. She doesn't want to acknowledge that if they'd all made it out, that it wouldn't only be Raven and Miller standing here, greeting her.

"I didn't dare hope you'd all just see and break through the hold they had on us. Gods, I wouldn't have if I were you. I didn't dare dream that she'd leave you unscathed after she discovered I'd left when I did. I didn't know if my leaving meant your deaths. If you'd become trapped without an escape. I wasn't sure I'd see you again, not in this life anyway." Clarke grows increasingly more emotional as everything comes crashing down on her. Her two best friends had made it. They'd not only survived, but broken the chains holding them captive.

But they were alone, so she didn't dare allow herself to hope more were safe.

"We left not long after you did. You left and some of us, particularly this one," he gestures to Raven, "knew something was wrong. You'd never just up and left before, you'd never been allowed. We didn't know what to think, but one look through your room told us everything we needed to know. You had run. For whatever reason, we didn't know, but we didn't care. You ran and that meant we were going to run too."

"But how did you get out? Surely the alarm was raised the moment I'd left. Did they- Were there more of you, who got away?" Clarke's not sure she wants to hear the answer.

"A bunch of us left, Clarke. You have more influence within our pack than you believe you do. When they heard you'd fled, the amount of shifters ready to flee tripled from when we'd discussed it after your father's death." The number had tripled? They'd believed in her enough that her fleeing had caused them to want to flee too? They'd all known somewhere, deep down that what Abby and her councillors were doing to them and everyone else, was wrong. None of them had had the courage to leave. Not even Clarke. As soon as she did, it changed. They were willing to _flee with her_ and take on all of the risks that posed.

"We wanted to find you Clarke, but we couldn't. The steps you took to hide yourself from the trackers, posed too difficult even for Raven to find you." Clarke gulps. She'd never meant to hide from her friends, from Raven especially.

"You hid yourself pretty damn well." Raven chuckles and then her face falls. "We left in a large group, but obviously only two of us are here. About two days after we'd fled, we lost some. Del and Glass were killed." _Not killed_ , Clarke thinks. _Butchered_. "The others, they managed to grab. They dragged them away, tranquilized them and loaded them up on the truck." Clarke knew exactly what truck Raven spoke of. A large black truck used to haul traitors back into Abby's clutches.

Her entire being collapses in on itself. How many? How many had been forced back because she had left? This was her fault. Del and Glass would still be alive if she'd just waited a day and told them all her plan. They could have left together. They could have survived _together_.

"But we managed to get away, Clarke. Raven and I. We made it because you gave us the courage we needed. We are free." Miller gently touches her chin and lifts so she can meet his gaze. "We are free Clarke and you pushed that into existence."

"I'm sorry." Clarke mutters, tears already crashing from her eyes. "I didn't know. I didn't want you all to follow. Not like that. It's all my fault. I should have just warned all of you, forced you to come with me when I left. If I had-"

"No. Don't blame yourself. We all knew the risks. The idea of freedom, of finding you and creating a new pack with new, better laws was worth every risk." Miller wipes the tears beneath her eyes.

"We would follow you anywhere Clarke. You've always been the one to protect us, to lead us and it was time we all finally grew some balls and took matters into our own hands. You didn't sentence us to death, you gave us something to fight for. This, right here, it's not much, but for the first time in years I am not looking over my shoulder, afraid that I'll look at someone the wrong way and earn myself twenty shock lashes. I'm not afraid to say what's comes to my mind." She pauses and takes a breath before continuing in a whisper. "And I'm not waiting to be locked in that cell again, counting the seconds before _He_ lets me out."

Clarke throws herself at Raven, crushing the girl in her arms. If Clarke had anything to say about it, Raven would never, ever be locked in that cell again. As long as she still breathed, Raven would never be subjected to that sadistic monster again. She would die before _He_ would so much as look in Raven's direction.

"Release the claws girl, I'm stronger than I look." Clarke scans the weary smile Raven has plastered on her face. She takes her hand and squeezes.

"When did you guys get here?" Clarke asks, looking back between Miller and Raven.

"About three weeks ago now, I think. Time passes differently here." The look in Miller's eyes says it all. She knows what he means. Here you weren't counting the seconds until you were released. Here time didn't pass based on when the next beating would occur, or the next time you'd be locked in solitary confinement. Here day and night passed effortlessly, without the day to day mile markers, they'd become accustomed to.

Clarke nods her understanding.

"Now that that lovely reunion is over, this is Murphy, Dax and Roma." Bellamy has a hint of a smile on his face, but Clarke can tell he's doing his best to hide it. Did he really hate her so much he couldn't be happy that her friends had walked away?

"Monroe is the other resident she-wolf aside from Octavia, but she's in the basement punching her bags." Roma sidles up to Bellamy and grins as she latches herself onto his side. Clarke wants to gag. Roma's dark chocolate eyes take in each inch of Clarke, sensing the waves of _alpha, show respect_ rolling off of her. In her stare, Clarke senses some form of a challenge. For alpha female? Maybe. For Bellamy? Certainly. This little she-wolf as she'd called herself, thought that Clarke was vying for Bellamy? Simply due to the fact that they were both alphas? Oh hell no. Roma could have Bellamy. Clarke wouldn't touch him with twenty-foot poll. There would be no competition from Clarke on Bellamy's behalf.

"Everyone can go back to their business, I need to have a chat with Clarke." Bellamy gently shrugs Roma off of him and she pouts. She glares at Clarke and Clarke glares right back. She has a feeling the two of them would never become friends.

After Roma, Dax and Murphy leave the room, Bellamy stands across from Clarke, his arms folded across his chest. Clarke assumes this is a favorite pose of his considering how often he seems to do it. An intimidating look crosses his face and his scent grows thick with impatience.

Raven bares her teeth at him momentarily before gently tugging the hand still held by Clarke in the direction of the couch. They both take a seat, one ready for an attack, the other readying for a different kind of attack. Miller, however, slinks back to the corner of the room, eyes constantly assessing the situation.

"Tell me what you know." Bellamy commands.

"What I know is that my mother is a clever witch. She is power hungry and has most of the older wolves backing her. They will fight and die for her and she will not rest until she has somehow taken control of the entire continent. It only began with our pack. If I am returned to her, she'll finally move on to Trikru and then who knows which pack is next. I can tell you that she will be putting out countless resources to find not only me, but anyone else who managed to escape. We pose too much of a threat to her. If we deserted, she knows many of the younger shifters will try to leave to follow me. With the threat of losing a chunk of her subjects, she'll be even more insistent that I be found, dragged back and killed on her terms. Everyone else she will need back in her clutches too. She'll want to make an example of them so no one else gets the same idea.

"I will be the priority as I'm her number one competition right now. Even if I just wanted to live a non-pack life, she will believe in her twisted mind that I'm starting a rebellion to over throw her. The more shifters who manage to escape will be more ammunition she will use to fuel the older wolves against us." Clarke remembers her mother when she was small, teaching her how to hunt, how to be a wolf, back before the time something ticked in her mind and made her power hungry. She has so few memories of that time. So few memories of having a mother at all.

"That's exactly what we're trying to do princess." Bellamy looks confused, but surprisingly waits for her to continue.

"I know but Bellamy if she knows that and not just thinks that, she won't rest until the rebellion is dealt with and destroyed. She'll send assassins to take out you, me, each shifter she believes to be a part of this rebellion. The ones not leading, she'll drag back and make an example of. Not one of us will be safe, not with me. You and each of your pack members will have a target on their backs as long you side with me against her. As far as she'll be concerned, I'm the biggest threat here. The younger wolves will come to find me, those who manage to escape that is." Clarke remembered young Glass, a girl she hadn't known well, but had thought of as a gentle being. Del she'd known better. He'd been in her classes and he was a little hotheaded, but loyal. They were two deaths on her hands right now, blood she couldn't wash away. Rebellions required soldiers and sacrifice, but Clarke wasn't ready to sacrifice any who turned to her cause.

"If we're going to need the shifters in your pack, how will we get word to them? There must be some way to reach them, let them know where we are." Bellamy's voice is strained, as if thinking too hard.

"I don't know. Right now, we need to focus on ensuring that no one, save for any other escaped shifters, know that we are here. If any one of us is discovered here, you will all pay the price for harbouring us. We will need to make preparations to move if word gets out. Perhaps if we were to reach out to Trikru… maybe an alliance will still hold and they can help us." Clarke rubs her face and lets out a shaky breath. All of this is because of her. Yes, she'd helped to grant two shifters their freedom, but where two had been sent free, two had been murdered. Death was a part of all rebellions, she knows this. Two wouldn't be the final death count. More would die before this was over. Clarke would never be able to save them all, but she'd be damned if she allowed herself to sit back while they all fought for the freedom they all deserved. She would fight alongside them, and create as much grief for her mother along the way. She would find a way to make it up to the ones she'd failed.

"First we need to establish who will follow us if we can make contact. Raven, Miller, who left with you when you tried to escape?" Bellamy uncrosses his arms, beginning to pace around the room.

"The sinsters came with us. It was just us and a few others." Raven says.

"I don't follow. Who are the sinsters?" Bellamy stops pacing and looks at Raven.

"A small group within our pack. We were the ones who fought back. The ones who found solace in one another because we'd each suffered in unspeakable ways. We consisted of the young and rebellious in the pack. The name was given to us by Jake because we'd get in trouble. We officially took on the name after he died, but that doesn't matter now. When it was officially formed, there were eight of us; myself, Clarke and Miller, and some others. Over time we grew in number to almost twenty. They're the ones I trust most. They know my secrets and fears, my hopes and dreams, and I, theirs." Clarke closes her eyes because one of them at least had already betrayed them. _Oh Finn_ , Clarke thinks.

"I was there when they dragged Harper and Sterling back…" Miller shakes his head. "It was like nothing I've seen before. Absolutely no mercy. They didn't care if they killed them."

"We'll save them." Clarke finds a determination to save her friends. She would go back and find them. She would go and face her mother. Not today, but soon. She would come up with a plan of attack. She would figure out a way to save her people.

"Any idea how exactly we're going to save them?" Bellamy asks.

"Not yet." Clarke mumbles, thinking to herself. Her mother probably had patrols going double time now. She was probably keeping a close watch on each member. Her enforcer Jaha was probably dealing out punishments as they speak. She doesn't want to think about what they'd be doing to her friends right now. The punishments for those who'd befriended her over the years would be swift. The ones who'd left to follow her, they would not be kind to them. Her mother would be furious and that rage would find it's way into the whip that crashed down into each of her friends.

"Look, if we can establish communication with one of our pack inside… we could get critical information to let them out." Raven turns from Clarke and faces Bellamy. "I know for a fact that Finn is still out looking for you Clarke. If we could find him, convince him to go back and be an inside man… we could get the others out. Abby still trusts him."

"There's just one problem with that Raven." Clarke sighs and she knows that this is something she must tell her best friend, but it isn't easy. Raven and Finn had been close, lovers once, a while ago, before everything went to shit. Pain wells in her chest at the thought of the words that will need to come from her.

"What?" Raven looks curiously at Clarke, a hint of disbelief on her face.

"Finn is working for my mother." Clarke whispers, not wanting to hurt her best friend. She'd hurt her once. She wasn't going to do it again.

"No. You're wrong, he wouldn't do that." Raven stands to her feet, clear anger radiating off of her body.

"I know Raven, I know. I didn't want to believe it, but he found me. Told me to come back. To go through with the marriage. I tried to tell him, but he wouldn't listen. He's probably found where I was staying by now and soon he'll be on our trail." Clarke looks from Raven to Bellamy.

"He's a kid Clarke." Bellamy looks at her with disbelief, but he doesn't know, doesn't know that Finn is the best.

"He's the best damn tracker in the pack." Clarke whips back.

"We'll have to outsmart him then." Miller answers quietly from the back corner. "In the meantime, answer me this, what happened Clarke? What made you run? I've gone over it in my mind again and again, nothing was different. You'd known of the alliance before, but it hadn't made you flee. Things weren't any worse than before. What made you run?" Raven snaps her head over to Clarke as if she too is wondering the exact same thing. Bellamy, Clarke notices, curiously listens in.

"You're right. It wasn't the betrothal. I knew something like that would happen the moment I began to understand my role as the daughter of the alphas. Being the alphas daughter, and only child at that, I knew there would be sacrifices I would have to make, for the good of the pack. I was born for it. I've never once shunned that duty because you all mean the most to me. To put the pack first, meant to put you first. I'll always put my you first, always. The betrothal was going to be a way to set you free. Trikru outnumbers us. I would have used the marriage to my advantage and found a way to set you all free. No matter the cost. Running when I did was in the best interest of the pack. If I had gone through with it, we would have been plunged right back into war with them." Clarke pauses to look between the three wolves in the room, wondering if the others in the house were listening in on their conversation.

"The day I left, I overheard my mother and Jaha talking about me, about the threat I am to them. It's no secret that they hate all Trikru with everything in them. I'd never questioned why I'd suddenly been sold as a bride to one of them. But I began to. Why would mother sell me to them if she hated them? She hates me, but surely, she wouldn't want her only child sullied by them. My marriage to Tristan was going to be a tie in an alliance neither of them wanted. I began listening in on their conversations again, looking for nothing in particular, but what I discovered wasn't even a possibility in my mind until I heard it uttered from their lips.

"First, they were discussing how they planned to have me murdered the night of my wedding and blame it on Trikru, thus enraging our entire pack, including you. If everyone believed they had offered an alliance through marriage and then murdered me the very night it became official, you would all willingly go to war to avenge me. Not only would everything my father worked towards be erased, but she would have willingly convinced you all to fight against them. My mother would get the war she's dreamed of. If I hadn't left when I did, she'd have found a way to get what she wanted and I would have lost the small amount of courage to leave. At first, I debated grabbing all of you and finding a way to get everyone out, but if she'd discovered us, I'd be thrown into a cell and there would be no escape or warning for anyone. I had to get out that moment, get away and then find a way to get all of you out. Unfortunately, I knew I would be tracked and I wouldn't be able to send word right away. The thought of what she would do to you when she found me gone, that alone was enough to almost make me turn back." Tears stream down Clarke's face at the guilt of it all. She'd abandoned her family to save herself, justifying it by arguing that her mother couldn't make them go to war if she was alive. She should have just fought to bring them with her.

"Oh Clarke," Raven, with tears in her own eyes, grips her arm. "I was angry that you'd left. You'd left _me_ , and that hurt. I didn't know why and it felt like for the first time you didn't trust me. But I knew that if you'd run, something bad must have happened. I don't care that you ran, that you found a way to save yourself. If they had killed you I would have given in and been lost. Abby would have won and there would be no coming back, not for me. By running Clarke, you found a way to prevent that from happening. When you ran, a spark lit inside of me, one that urged me to understand that it wasn't right what she was doing. A lot of the others felt that too. You gave us a reason to open our eyes."

Clarke doesn't know what to say. All this time, she'd thought she'd just abandoned them, but they'd found a way to rally together. They'd found a way to fight the fears her mother had driven into their minds.

"I was so worried for the first few weeks that she would find me and drag me back. I was so scared that if I stopped even a moment to think about you, she'd catch up and I'd once more be a prisoner subjected to her torture. If she captured me, I knew she'd be so enraged that she'd make me watch each of you die, slowly, and I couldn't allow that to happen. I had to trust that by continuing to run you'd be kept from that." Clarke wipes her face with her sleeve.

"That's not all either."

"Clarke what do you mean?" Miller says from the corner.

"That same night, when I overheard my mother and Jaha mention that they needed to eliminate me, they said they would eliminate the threat, just like they had my father." Miller, Raven and even Bellamy sit back and suck in a breath. No alphas ever murdered their mate. It didn't happen, it was the ultimate betrayal. While her parents hadn't been soulmates, they'd still chosen one another, made the vows and sworn to protect and love one another for their entire lives. There was a bond that was created when those vows were made, one that made it difficult to even consider the possibility of betraying them, let alone murdering them in cold blood. "After that, I knew that everything she'd done in the name of the pack, was all just done for her to gain more power. I had to get out. She murdered my father, and I have to find a way to keep her from murdering more of our pack in the name of obedience and the protection of the pack."

"Clarke…" Raven reaches her hand out to Clarke and pulls her to her feet in order to wrap her in her arms. "I'm so sorry. God I mean, everything kind of makes sense now. She never wanted his death looked into, never really wanted the blame placed on anyone. Clarke, Jake was good to all of us and I will fight for his memory to live on. I will stand with you as we find a way to rescue our pack and ensure that no war is brought to anyone in the near future."

"I will stand with you as well. We will avenge your father, Clarke." Miller speaks with assurance.

"And Del and Glass." Clarke pulls back and growls her agreement.

"And my mother." Bellamy says, arms folded across his chest and a hard and determined look in his eyes.

"If we can, we'd like to help too." A tiny girl with braids in her hair stands in the doorway with the three others.

Clarke can't help but feel that a new pack is forming before her eyes. One that would be willing to fight against the monsters from her past. These warriors willing to fight for her and the freedom her pack deserved. They weren't just some kids anymore, but a group that would turn into a unit willing to do anything to survive.


	4. Chapter 4

Part IV

*Clarke's POV*

Later that night, Clarke found herself lying next to Raven in the makeshift bed she'd had on the floor. Raven shared a room with the other girl Monroe, a tiny little room on the second floor next to the room housing Bellamy and Murphy. Outside their door, Dax stood watch. Apparently Clarke couldn't be trusted not to run off.

She had no plans to move from the pile of blankets she shared with Raven, but sleep didn't come either. Clarke tossed and turned, a nightly norm she'd become accustomed to after running away. She would only pass out when utter exhaustion took her out. Currently, her mind was wide awake, thinking of the day's events. Finn finding her, Octavia saving her, Bellamy showing her a new world…

Clarke couldn't allow herself to think about how on Earth she was going to find someone on the inside. How she would set up a communication system. How her friends were probably sitting in a cell, cold, hungry, in pain… How it was all her fault.

Yet each thought crossed her mind over and over until she saw the sun rising through the window and her mind finally shut down.

Clarke woke up with the spot next to her empty. Raven was no longer there occupying it. A few blinks and a light stretch had Clarke shuffling out of the bed. She tossed her hair up into a messy bun and ran a hand down her tired eyes. Monroe too was also gone. The light from the window suggested it had to be sometime around noon. Clarke took a moment to gather her thoughts. This hadn't been a dream. She had been reunited with some of her pack. They were going to take down her mother… or die trying.

Even with the start of this rebellion, Clarke had to go back to work. She couldn't just not show up. She had to at least go back and tell Lincoln she was leaving. The problem was going to be convincing Bellamy to let her go. Clarke could sense he would put up a fight against it, but Clarke felt more alive than she had for weeks and that meant no matter what, she wasn't going to back down.

Clarke walked quietly down the stairs following the voices assuming the majority were in the living room. A sniff told Clarke that Octavia was back and that Bellamy wasn't present. Good, one less battle she would have to fight today.

She enters the living room, stomach rumbling, ears perked and is met with five pairs of eyes. Raven and Miller are immediately up and move to her side. Roma sitting on the arm of the couch immediately holds the laugh she'd been in the middle of and lifts an eyebrow. Dax looks at her and resumes doing whatever he was doing before. Octavia takes notice of her, but her smile is weak and her eyes are clouded with sadness.

Clarke continues on her way to the kitchen, brewing herself a cup of coffee. She grabs what she assumes is some form of waffle off the table and takes a seat. Miller stands by her side and Raven sits next to her.

"What are we doing today?" Raven asks.

"Well I do have a job that I need to go back to, well go back and tell the manager that I can't work anymore. No point, I'm not hiding here anymore, I've already been found." Clarke stuffs her face and grumbles.

"We'll come with you. You'll need someone to watch your back." Miller gives Clarke a serious look. He knows all about the assassins that will be launched, the trackers on their trail, Finn. He knew of how difficult it was about to become.

"Thanks. I want to slip out before Bellamy comes back. If he has any say in this, I'll be locked in the room. We need to leave before he gets back. Now preferably. Could I borrow a change of clothes? I kind of wore these yesterday and slept in them." Raven nods before the two girls rush upstairs to change.

They have only a few minutes of peace before they are rudely interrupted. Clarke actually growls when she feels the presence by the door. Thank goodness Clarke had finished changing.

"You're not going anywhere." Clarke turns her head to the doorway of the room Raven and her had slept in to find Roma standing there, arms crossed. "Bellamy said you stay here and you're not allowed to leave."

"Do you always do what daddy says?" Raven crosses her arm and sends back. Her eyes scan Roma up and down, the distaste clear to see. Clarke herself rolls her eyes and inwardly smirks.

Roma growls and her eyes begin to glow.

"If you stand in my way, you'll only get stepped on. All I want to do is tell my boss I'm not coming back. If Bellamy has a problem with that, we can talk about it when I get back." Clarke pulls Raven back and shakes her head. Roma is clearly threatened by Clarke's presence. Perhaps here Roma considers herself alpha female and in walks Clarke clearly claiming that position. That's the only explanation because Clarke is not interested in Bellamy at all and Roma clearly is.

"The princess isn't in charge here. That would be me." Ah so it is the fight for alpha female. Well Roma would have somewhat of a challenge there. Clarke was born an alpha, it was her legacy. She had been trained from birth not to let anyone step on her toes and to never back down. It wasn't something easily forgotten.

"Alright Roma, this princess will be right back. Got a problem with that and I'd love to show you just how sharp my teeth are." Clarke's hands ball into fists. She doesn't have time for this. She won't get out if Bellamy comes back. She literally just needs to run out for an hour, maybe two at most. She is intending on coming back, but no Roma doesn't get it.

"Bellamy's mine princess. Back off or you'll understand just how sharp _my_ teeth are." Roma growls before walking off. Bellamy? Clarke had shown no interest in Bellamy. If anything, she'd only shown him her teeth.

"She's always been that much of a bitch. Don't take it personally. A new girl walks in and suddenly their here to steal Bellamy away." Raven dramatically rolls her eyes before tugging Clarke forward and out into the hall. They go downstairs to where Miller waits and together the three go out into the city.

The three reach the bar Clarke works at and she enters cautiously wondering if Finn still lingers here or if he'd run back to get reinforcements. Miller insisted on standing guard outside the bar, wanting to watch for familiar bodies. Raven accompanies Clarke inside sticking by her side.

Clarke searches for Lincoln, knowing that she was technically three hours earlier than she would normally come in. He was here, she could smell him. This bar was open during the day, but there currently wasn't anyone in here. That made her feel better. Safer.

"Clarke? What are you doing here so early? You're shift isn't for another 3 hours." Lincoln appears behind the two girls, dishtowel over his shoulder and a curious smile on his face. His eyes are cheery and his body language welcoming.

"That's what I'm here about. Something's come up and I have to leave town. I won't be able to work tonight or any other night. I'm really sorry Lincoln, but it's an emergency." Clarke watches his face almost fall slightly before his head turns to the door. Clarke's eyes follow his and watch as Miller's back appears through the door followed by Bellamy shoving him out of the way.

Ah hell! Clarke thinks this confrontation would happen after. Damn that bitch Roma for selling her out. Now Lincoln was here to witness this and Clarke did not want to do this right now. Not here. Not in front of Lincoln.

"Clarke!" Bellamy fights off Miller who is desperately trying to keep him out. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I'm sure this can wait Bellamy." Clarke locks her fierce eyes with his deep chocolate ones.

"No it can't princess. You trying to run off on me?" Bellamy lunges for her arm which he holds in a locked tight grip. She growls at him and tries to pull free. This is not something she wanted Lincoln to see. He was innocent in this fight, and she had no intention of dragging someone else into her mess.

"Clarke, is there a problem here?" Lincoln's eyes look down at the grip Bellamy holds on her arm and gives a pointed look to him. His cheery expression turns cold and his thick arms fold across his chest. Clarke's sure that if she said the word, Lincoln would at least attempt to defend her against the hot headed alpha male.

"No, Lincoln, there is not." Clarke shakes her arm free and shoves Bellamy back a few steps. "I was coming right back asshole."

"How the hell am I supposed to trust you when you run off the first chance you get?" Bellamy's voice simmers slightly, but there is still a rage in his eyes. A silent promise that this is not going to be over quickly.

"I am not yours to keep under lock and key. If we are going to work together, we need to give each other some space. I swear on my father's grave, I won't run off." Clarke keeps his stare and doesn't back down until he finally sighs and runs a hand through his hair. "Oh and you need to keep that girlfriend of yours on a leash." Clarke finishes. "Or someone might get hurt."

"Roma?" Bellamy scoffs. "She's not my girlfriend. I don't do girlfriends."

"Clearly she's not under the same impression." Raven coughs in the background.

"Alright princess, I assume you've told the man you're done here. Let's get out of here. We've got work to do." Bellamy gently grips her arm this time.

"Clarke," Lincoln begins and she turns her head to see him. "You need anything, anything at all, let me know."

"Of course, thank you. May we meet again Lincoln." Clarke smiles and then walks out with Bellamy, Miller and Raven hot on their heels.

*Lincoln's POV*

Damn it. How had she fallen in with Bellamy Blake and his lot? His commander wouldn't be happy about this. At least his job would be somewhat easier. With each of his targets now together, he would have less work to do, less reports to send. It would be easier to keep watch.

That night after his shift at the bar he watches silently from outside the shack the Blake's and their group of young adults sat in. Each unknowing of the danger they were in. The danger that would be coming. Clarke was smart, she understood. Perhaps she would save them. Perhaps he would help.

He couldn't help his eyes landing on the tall brunette as she walks out of the house and stares up into the night sky. Her innocence had captured his attention and from the moment he'd been sent to keep an eye on the Blake siblings' days after their banishment, he'd been curious to know more about her. Two years he'd been here, watching in the shadows, keeping an eye on this newfound pack. He'd been sent to keep an eye on potential allies or potential threats if ever they went to war against the Sky Cru. And these kids were the perfect candidates, each banished for petty crimes, many from the Sky Cru itself.

Sitting in the tree, eyes scanning the area, he watched her. Watched her walk away from the shack and cry silently by the river. She'd been so strong and he wondered what had made her break down like this. He wanted to punish whoever had done this to her. But he never would. He couldn't. She could never know him the way he wished to know her. So he'd continue to watch and admire the girl, Octavia her name was, until he couldn't hide any longer.

*Clarke's POV*

Four days passed with Clarke locked indoors until she simply couldn't take it anymore. None of them were close enough to figuring out how they were going to break out the rest of the pack they desperately needed. How to establish communication. How to defend against the wolves that would be sent to drag them back home and kill anyone else.

Clarke wanted to scream.

"I'm going for a walk!" Clarke grips her hair in frustration and abruptly stands from her seat. She is going for a walk and no one is going to stop her. She cannot focus if she is stuck in here any longer. Bellamy insisted on her staying indoors, 1) so he can keep an eye on her, 2) for her protection he'd said, and 3) because he absolutely despised her. At least she thought so, even though he had been must calmer with her lately and they hadn't had a yelling match in eight hours.

Clarke walks to the front door, the need to leave overpowering. She wants some time to shift and go somewhere where she can hear the trees whispering to her and feel the grass beneath her paws. Somewhere she doesn't feel caged.

So without waiting for anyone to accompany her, she walks off into the woods surrounding the back of the house and clears her head in preparation for the shift. Clarke had gone nearly two weeks without the shift and that was probably contributing partly towards her rage.

In the few movies Clarke had watched growing up, the shift seemed painful, but for her it was a transition to her second body. She flowed from human to wolf in seconds. Her clothes were not torn, her body did not contort. She simply changed into a second form. Claws growing out of her fingers, ears pointing, nose elongating, fur growing. Mere seconds and the shift was over. There was no contorting or yelling, just a simple peace that washed over her body. A breath of fresh air as she enveloped her second form, maybe her true form. Clarke's eyes turned from blue to deep gold. Her hair turning to almost pure white fur with a stone gray shadow covering the top. Her ears pointing and gaining the ability to move. Thick, wild fur covering her body. Her tail long and her paws tough. Clarke always felt a little more herself in this body, a little more free.

Clarke craved the chase the hunt provided, but she wished more for the connection the hunt with her pack provided. She wished for her friends, her family, to be here with her. Free, almost carefree. Together.

But that wouldn't happen until she figured out how they were going to rescue them. So for the time being she would run, she would run until her paws ached and her breath hitched.

Each scent within the woods floated to Clarke and she took time in differentiating between them. A rabbit hiding in the bush, a stream a few miles away, two birds rustling in the trees… so many scents and sounds surrounding her. An unfamiliar area, uncharted territory. The curiosity within Clarke egged her on, to go forward, to find out everything she could about this new home.

Since when had she begun to call it home?

A twig snapped behind her and she halted mid run to face her pursuer. A scan of her eyes showed no one there. Her ears twitch but hear nothing else but the sounds of the woods. A deep breath holds no unfamiliar scents, no danger lurking. But she feels like she is being followed. Something she cannot shake. But she's been paranoid ever since leaving. She needs to learn to face reality. She'll never be free, she'll never be safe, but she can't fear every single sound and shadow. That's no way to live.

So she shuts her mind down and breathes in the calm of the woods.

Clarke has nothing to fear here, not in this moment. She is strong in this form, much stronger than her more fragile human body. She knows how to use her weapons, her teeth and claws and she's defended herself before. Now though, she must defend her mind from thoughts of someone always pursuing her because there is no one there. If there was someone following her, the woods would go silent, the prey would hide from the predator and that was not the case. She was safe here and one way or another she was going to convince herself of that.

Clarke slows to a walk when she reaches a gentle stream with a light current. She looks around and does not recognize where she is. She must have run far, she thinks. She'll have to follow her own scent back. Her run has gained up inside her a thirst that she goes to satisfy in the stream. The water cool and satisfying as she swallows gulp after gulp.

And suddenly she isn't alone.

A large wolf bounds out of the woods and into her path. His eyes are a gray gold that pierce into hers. His ears and tail erect as he stares her down. His fur streaked with copper and shadowed with a dark gray. He stands taller than her, but shows no sign of a challenge. She recognizes his unforgettable scent the moment it wafts towards her; mostly pine with a hint of his own unique musk.

This wolf is none other than Bellamy Blake and he is as intimidating and strong as the boy she'd recently become accustomed to.

Clarke's first instinct is to bare her teeth and growl. Nothing with wolves was simple. The slightest twitch could send a challenge. Bellamy obviously wasn't trying to initiate a challenge, but he wasn't submitting either.

" _You startled me Bellamy."_ Clarke grumbles as she speaks through a telepathic link each wolf shares while they are in their wolf form. It is their second means of communication besides body language.

" _Out in the woods for a stroll princess?"_ Bellamy pads forward, his muzzle shifting into what she could tell as a grin. One of his asshole smirks, but Clarke had been around him and his smirks for days now and she was growing more accustomed to it.

" _Yes, if you must know. I needed some air. It was all stuffy in there and I was losing my mind."_ Clarke breaks eye contact and begins following the stream. She doesn't need to look to know that Bellamy has fallen in step just behind her.

" _You shouldn't have left alone Clarke. You know that it isn't safe for you or any of us to be going out alone. Someone could easily get the drop on us and take us out one by one."_ The concerned look on Bellamy's face annoys Clarke. She knew the risks, she'd called out a warning. She didn't need protection, she could take care of herself.

" _Oh please Bellamy, you know that I can take care of myself." Clarke growls, offended. She was a shifter, armed with her teeth, claws and strength. She could and she would fight for her safety if it came to it._

" _Why then, did I get the jump on you?"_ Bellamy's eyes light up because he thinks he's won the conversation.

" _Look, the wind was blowing away from me, not towards me. Okay? I could easily sneak up on you in the same situation."_ Clarke nudges into Bellamy's side before barking her challenge.

" _I'd like to see you try."_ The challenge is clear is Bellamy's eyes this time.

" _Alright, you're on. When I come at you, you'll never see it coming."_ Clarke wags her tail and sprints ahead of Bellamy and back into the woods, intending on heading back. And maybe racing him. She does have a competitive side and now it is screaming at her to run, faster and beat him.

She's racing ahead of Bellamy, easily leaving him behind. She's sleek and small, making her fast, whereas he is built and large, slowing him down. Just as she begins to slow down, she's caught off guard by a head careening into her side, knocking her down.

" _Ow Bellamy! Seriously?"_ Now Clarke is pissed. What the hell was he knocking her down for? Was he that upset she'd been beating him? But she looks up and it is clearly not Bellamy who knocked her down. This is a pure white wolf, as large as Bellamy, but much more menacing. She soon recognizes him as Dax.

" _Dax? What are you doing?"_ Clarke stands back to her four feet and curiously stares down the white wolf.

" _I'm here to bring you home. Come with me now Clarke, I don't want to have to drag you back. That would be unpleasant for both_ __ _of us."_ Dax circles her, eyes watching and assessing every move she makes. His predatory gaze intimidating her.

" _You work for my mother Dax? She banished you. You have a great life here, all she can do for you is add your dead body to her long list."_ Clarke backs up slightly, baring her teeth. She prepares herself. She knew she'd have to fight. She didn't expect it to be so soon.

" _No Clarke. Abby's going to welcome me back pardoned of my crimes and part of her own Elite Guard. Here, I've got nothing. This pack is weak, hers is strong. All I need to do is bring you back. So don't make this hard Clarke, just come with me."_ Dax leaps on a rock and glares down at her. His bright golden eyes meet with hers. She feels the air change, a hint of violence in the air.

" _I'm not going back Dax. Abby wants another war, starting with my death. I'm not going to let her erase everything my father did. I'm not going willingly."_ Clarke lowers her neck slightly tilting her bared fangs.

" _Alright."_ Dax lunges off his rock and barrels into Clarke. His sharp teeth dig into her back leg, drawing blood and a little yelp. The pain awakens Clarke, makes her realize that this is what will come.

Clarke may have prepared herself for the fight, but she hadn't thought he'd actually fight her on this. Now that he'd drawn blood, she wasn't about to let him do it again. She pulls herself free from his grasp and flips her body around, teeth meeting with the flesh on his shoulder. She tastes the iron of his blood, feels his flesh rip and tear open. Even with the wound she's dealt him her speed is no match for close combat as he throws his body weight into her, knocking her off her feet.

Another growl sounds from behind her, but instead of feeling fear, she feels relief. She knows its Bellamy finally arriving and hopefully coming to her aid.

" _I didn't want to have to kill you Bellamy. If you'd just stayed away and let me take her back it wouldn't have come to this."_ Dax steps away from Clarke briefly to face Bellamy. His muzzle is dripping with Clarke's blood. His eyes bright with the attack. She gets a moment to pull herself to her feet. She can't put weight on her back right leg, but she's alive. The pain is bearable right now, it will have to be. Bellamy soon leaps into Dax, teeth automatically meeting his side. Both snap at each other. Clarke can't see an opening, but she lunges forward anyway. Dax's jaws snap at her, as he tosses Bellamy aside. Clarke whines as her shoulder is shredded open and she sees stars from the pain.

" _No!"_ Bellamy is back up and on Dax in an instant. Clarke wants to help, but her body isn't allowing her to move as quickly as she needs. She watches Dax circle Bellamy before going for his throat. Bellamy notices and in a split second, his body steps back and his own jaw latches onto Dax's throat. Clarke hears a crack and Dax yelps before going limp.

Bellamy drops Dax's body, clear shock written on his face and sidles over to Clarke's side. Clarke shifts back to her human form, watching as Bellamy does the same. His eyes are darker than normal, his breath panting. Clarke's own heart is racing inside of her and she thinks she's a little in shock.

"Are you alright?" He asks lying down next to her, leaning his back up against the tree she is against. His hand briefly brushes her thigh as he steadies himself. Clarke notices the crimson color smeared on his mouth, his neck and his shirt.

"I'm fine. You?" Clarke's eyes skim Bellamy's body, seeing the red dripping down his backside and through the shirt he is wearing.

He nods before looking at the ground, a sad expression overcoming his face. "All I do is hurt people."

"Bellamy…" Clarke looks at him, sees the tear roll onto his cheek. She wishes she could reach out to him, make him realize that it isn't his fault. It had to be done. Dax wouldn't have stopped.

"If my mother knew who I was, what I've done… She taught me to be better. To be good." Bellamy sniffles before continuing, "I'm a monster."

"Bellamy…" Clarke pauses. "You saved my life today. And you may be a total ass half the time, but…" Clarke meets Bellamy's gaze and continues, "I need you. Those kids need you. If you hadn't done what you did, he would have taken me back with him. Someone would be sent to kill each of you. You've bought us another day Bellamy."

"Clarke… can we not discuss this right now." Bellamy turns away and rests against the back of the tree, letting out a deep breath.

"You want forgiveness... Fine, I'll give it to you. You're forgiven okay?" Clarke pauses, looking back and forth between Bellamy's eyes. "You'll need to get those looked at." Clarke points to the injuries covering his body, the red seeping through his clothes. The red seeping through her own clothing.

"Can we do that later?" Bellamy sounds as exhausted as he looks.

"Whenever you're ready." Clarke sinks back into the tree, thinking about how they managed to survive the first attack and how it was only the first of many that would come.

Clarke doesn't want to think about it right now. She wants to catch her breath and take this one day at a time. Right now she was going to sit and then she would heal. This attack only pushed Clarke to anger. It was one thing to come after her, but another entirely to hurt the ones she was beginning to think of as her new pack.

Today she would breathe. Tomorrow she would begin her battle plan.


	5. Chapter 5

Part 5

It was two hours before Clarke and Bellamy leave the tree and slowly walk back. The walk is shrouded in silence, each caught in their own thoughts. Clarke can feel the weight of the guilt Bellamy is carrying after killing Dax. She knows he knows it was self-defence, but she also knows that he killed someone he thought was a friend. That had to be hard. Clarke herself had never killed anyone and she prayed she would never have to, but somewhere inside she knew that one day, hopefully long away, she probably would.

Clarke sees the little house come into view and before they reach the door, she turns to Bellamy. "Sometimes we have to make hard decisions for the greater good, remember that." Clarke opens the door and walks inside. She wishes she could stay with Bellamy but she knew he would probably want to be alone right now. Besides, she was _exhausted_.

Raven runs to Clarke the moment she shuts the door. Her face is full of laughter and joy, but falls as she takes in the sight of Clarke. Her clothing and face bloodied and expression somber.

"What happened? Clarke, come here." Raven reaches for Clarke and tucks her into her side before pulling her into the kitchen. Clarke is seated on a chair while Raven goes to the sink. She runs the water and soon walks over to Clarke with a wet cloth.

Clarke wants to tell Raven… but she can't. Not yet. She's currently too emotional and shaken up with the ordeal. She just wants a moment to heal and breathe in the safety Raven provides.

"How did this happen Clarke?" Raven takes a seat next to Clarke and holds out her tanned wrist. Clarke's canines elongate and her eyes begin to glow. She knows that the bite isn't going to be very painful, but she is still gentle as she takes Raven's wrist in her hands and brings it to her mouth. Clarke bites deep and feels Raven's blood coat her lips. The taste of iron fills her mouth. Moments later, as the blood flows down her throat, her injuries begin to stitch themselves back together. Clarke pulls back gently and her sharp canines are replaced with human ones. It will take a few hours still to heal fully.

"Thank you." Raven nods as she presses her palm to her wound. Clarke takes the wet cloth and begins to wipe the blood off of her face, her shoulder, her leg… Her wounds have started to heal, but emotional scars will remain. They will only add to her already long list.

"Now will you tell me what happened?" Raven looks to Clarke for answers and Clarke gives her them. Clarke has always confided in Raven and she needs to again. Sometimes Clarke feels guilty for the things she places on Raven's shoulders, but Raven never seemed to complain and she always listens.

"Dax was working for my mother. She offered him a deal; bring me back and he would be pardoned and offered an elite position with her on her guard. He didn't believe he had anything here. He just came after me and we fought and Bellamy… Bellamy had to take him out. There was no other way." Clarke's eyes fill with tears at the reminder that another shifter, another person was dead because of her, because she decided to run.

"Don't even think about going back Clarke. We all knew the risks. Dax did too." Raven looks at Clarke with her stern glare, one pointing out that she would chain her to a wall before she let her run again.

"I know." But she didn't have to like it. She didn't want to think about it. It was one thing to risk her own life, but another entirely to have others risk their lives for her. Bellamy had been wrong when he said she didn't have any pack here. Maybe during that motorcycle ride she'd felt alone, but from the moment she'd stepped foot in here, she'd begun to feel the bond of a pack forming and she wasn't about to let anyone take that away from her.

*Bellamy's POV*

Bellamy spent the first few hours after the incident with Dax locked in his room. No one bothered him. They could feel his sorrow, his shame. He did tell the members of his pack about Dax's betrayal and his unfortunate death. Bellamy would never tell a single one of them about his break down, about how he'd had a moment of weakness. No that was a moment he shared with Clarke and her alone. No one could see him as weak, not right now when things were so uncertain.

Bellamy spent the next two days pestering Clarke for ideas, protecting his land and blocking out the images of Dax lying still in his jaws, the sound of his neck breaking beneath Bellamy's own jaws…

Octavia was scarce. He had insisted that when she left, Monroe go with her or even Murphy, but she always insisted that she could take care of herself so he'd lose track of her for hours on end before she would walk back in as if she hadn't just scared him to his core. He'd give her shit over it and she would just ignore him and walk off to her room. She was taking the news of their mother's death harder than he thought and it was beginning to wear him down. How was he supposed to plan for an attack when he was constantly worrying about his sister?

"Octavia." Bellamy called to his stubborn sister as she walked in the door after disappearing for three hours. "Where were you?"

"It's none of your business Bell. Sometimes I need to be alone, okay? You don't need to be my watch dog." She snaps at him, her eyes shadowed and red rimmed.

"Watch your tone. I understand you're hurting, I am too, but we need to look out for each other. If something happened to you while you had run off, I would lose my mind. You're all I have O. You mean everything to me." Bellamy wants to drill it into her mind. She is his responsibility, his to care for, to protect. She's all he has left of their mother, of the life they used to have. She is his blood, his family and he can't lose her.

"I know," Octavia sighs, running a hand through her dark hair and down her face. "I'm sorry. I haven't been thinking clearly lately. I thought she was alive, for three years, and suddenly she's gone. In a blink. I'll be better Bellamy, I promise."

"You don't have to better, just smart enough to know that we are all in danger. We work better as a unit, as a team. That's how you and I survived for so long." Bellamy grins and gives his little sister a light punch in the shoulder. As much as it pains Bellamy to say it, he does. "If you need to take time, I get it. I hate the thought of you leaving to somewhere I can't keep you safe, but I know you need to grieve. If you leave, please tell me where you're going, when you'll be back and please take someone with you. Just for back-up. With Dax and this Finn guy, I really don't want you on your own."

"Okay dad." Octavia rolls her eyes, but Bellamy can see she looks lighter than before.

"Good, now go do something so I can talk breakout ideas with Clarke." Bellamy watches her smile and walk off to the basement. Maybe now he wouldn't go so crazy when she left.

But not likely.

Bellamy goes in search of Clarke. He needs to talk to her about possibly sending an inside man to gather Intel. Someone they can rely on, but that the Sky Cru pack would trust enough to let back out again. He can't think of anyone, but it's a start. Better than they had yesterday. Better than what they had this morning. He also wants to talk patrols. Patrols of two's, maybe three's, four rotations a day. He needs to talk strategy, it's what he's good at.

Bellamy assumes that Clarke is in her room, either sleeping or maybe just trying to be alone. He knows he'd spent many hours these last days locked in his own mind, sometimes wishing, trying to be alone. He'd understand.

Clarke's door is closed when he reaches it, so he turns the doorknob and pushes it open. His eyes widen as he notices Clarke is changing and she has no shirt on. He feels guilty for not knocking, but is suddenly entranced. His eyes widen as they land on her bare back. Her bare back is covered in scars, small and large, old and new. Now his eyes are wide for an entirely different reason.

"What are those Clarke?" He hadn't meant to walk in on her changing, but he also hadn't expected to see her back covered in scars. He's in shock. A wound would have to have been so badly treated that it wasn't allowed to heal in order to scar like that. It was one thing to injure yourself and not have access to a pack member, but it was another for a pack member to deny their blood for the amount of time it would take for scars to form.

Clarke jumps as she realizes she isn't alone. She turns her head, blue eyes swimming in sadness and immersed in shock, blonde curls hanging over her shoulder. She sees Bellamy and replies, "nothing." Clarke quickly fumbles with her bra, hooking it over her back and pulling the straps up her arms. He is at her side before she can reach for the shirt and hide what is now completely obvious.

"These are scars Clarke." Bellamy's voice deepens as his hand reaches for the scars covering her back. Clarke freezes as his hand touches the soft skin on her back and runs over the tough scar tissue of the largest scar running down the middle of her back. Bellamy never imagined he would care for this girl, this princess, but the past few days had somehow brought them closer. A bond had been forming and she was part of his pack now, he felt that.

And Bellamy protected his own.

The calm that had washed over Clarke vanishes as she pulls away from Bellamy's touch. She snatches the shirt out of his hand and pulls it over her head. "What about it?" she snaps, whirling to face Bellamy, shirt now on, eyes now hard.

"We don't get scars Clarke. Not scars like that." Bellamy doesn't recognize his voice as it fills with anger and the threat to harm whoever did this to her. The need to protect Clarke from whoever did this overwhelming him.

"Well I did, okay? Just drop it Bellamy," she snaps and backs up a step. It's clear she's defensive and probably doesn't want to be reminded of the event that caused those scars. It would have had to have been horrific, but Bellamy needs to know.

Clarke shoves past Bellamy to the other side of the room to the dresser searching for something. He doesn't care.

"I can't just drop it Clarke. Someone did that to you. Why did no one heal you? Those were deep wounds, probably life threatening Clarke. Why the hell do you have them?" He couldn't drop the subject. The intensive need to know who had done this to her and kill them overcomes him. Those wounds had been deep, inflicted with something meant to harm her, torture her. Silver possibly. Silver inflicted wounds by someone who knew how to hurt them in the most painful ways. Someone who had meant to harm her and make her suffer while doing it.

"It's nothing Bellamy." Clarke's voice is much cooler and she refuses to look at him. Her body looks defeated while the anger she held towards him only moments ago has disappeared. Bellamy watches as Clarke finally turns around, takes a seat on the windowsill and looks at him, a haunted look in her eyes.

"It's not nothing Clarke. Who did this to you? Why did no one heal you?" He can't know about her scars and not know who did them and why. He couldn't understand why no one had healed her after she'd received the wounds that caused that kind of damage.

"You want to know who? Why I wasn't healed? Why I have them?" Clarke cracks and tears fill her eyes. Tears of anger, sadness, or remembrance, Bellamy can't tell. Clarke blinks rapidly, trying to prevent further tears. Doesn't she know that she can be vulnerable around him? He would keep her safe from those who would do her harm. He wouldn't judge her tears, hell, he'd shown her his own weakness.

"My mother did this Bellamy. That's what she does. What she began before my father died and continued to do worse than ever after she murdered him." Clarke roughly wipes her eyes and Bellamy wants to reach out to her. To show her that he is here for her, that he is going to keep her safe. "After my father died, I was enraged. I wanted to find out who did it and kill them. I dedicated all my time to investigating his murder. My mother on the other hand kept insisting on worrying about the alliance and making a wedding proposal. I didn't care about that. She told me to stand down. I didn't. Nothing else mattered to me. My mother doesn't like it when anyone talks back and does something of their own free will, especially me. It looks bad on her when she can't control her own daughter." Clarke spits the last bit out and Bellamy says nothing, afraid that one wrong word and she'll lock up inside herself again.

"So she had me whipped. Fifteen lashes from Jaha with a silver tipped whip. I rotted in a prison for six days after… wanting to die. Six days with nothing but moldy bread and dirty water. Infection set in and I was restricted medicine. Restricted the ability to heal. I was locked in solitary for another two weeks after that for refusing to submit to her. That is why I have these scars on my back Bellamy." Bellamy is at a loss for words before she continues.

"I have another scar on my left calf from him as well. She loves to let him punish me and he enjoyed it every time. My mother really showed her true colours after my father was killed. Banishments turned into executions and petty crimes became public whippings or other punishments. She was having one of the kids I'd gone to school with publically whipped for some petty crime. He was only fifteen. I tried to stop it before it started. I shifted and ran forward fully intending on tearing that fucking whip out of Shumway's hand, but he was always there, always watching. Ready to punish me at a moment's notice for stepping out of line." Clarke's eyes dim to a faded blue as she is telling Bellamy what happened.

"You see, my mother expected something to happen. Expected me to do something. So she had Jaha watching me that day, shadowing my every move. I didn't know that. I was still somewhat naïve. The moment I'd shifted and ran, Jaha was right there biting into my calf, dragging me back and locking me in a cell for the night. He took a good chunk out, but again I wasn't allowed pack blood to heal. The next day he beat me for refusing to watch the whipping." Clarke pauses and Bellamy is horrified. The fact that anyone would do this to anyone, let alone their own child enraged him. He wanted desperately to be the one to take out Abby, but he thinks that should be reserved for Clarke, the one she'd harmed the most. Jaha was his. He would make him suffer. Bellamy can only imagine that if this is what Abby did to her own daughter, what she was doing to all the others belonging to the Sky Pack.

"You see Bellamy, my mother is a monster. So is Jaha, Shumway, and all the other older wolves who inflict these punishments and fight for another war. These monsters, these are who we will be up against. I need you to know that." Clarke gives Bellamy a weak smile as she jumps off the windowsill and walks towards him. She stands face to face with him, a mere foot away. Her expression has shifted from complete hatred and fury to that of resolved conflict. "My scars will remain, but I healed a long time ago. Forget about the things we can't change and worry about the kids still trapped there."

Clarke is still haunted by her memories. Bellamy can see it in her eyes as she walks out and leaves him alone. Who wouldn't still be haunted by what she went through? Clarke had been through hell and here he'd thought all along that she'd been standing by watching. He'd believed she'd willingly watched his mother murdered, but there she was trying to stand up against the dreadful empire her mother stood for. Clarke had begun rebelling before the rebellion had even begun. She had started a silent rebellion without even knowing it.

Bellamy had been harsh in judging her and he was beginning to see that she was the strongest person he knew. Bellamy realized that he wasn't only beginning to admire her for her bravery and spirit, but care for her too. In more ways than one.

*Clarke's POV*

Shortly after her unburdening herself to Bellamy, he had found her and talked about starting patrols. Four or five rotations a day, with three wolves on each patrol. It was a great idea and Clarke was a little pissed she hadn't thought of it. So that evening they began the first patrol. Clarke insisted she would take the first patrol with Raven. The two worked as a unit that was nearly impossible to infiltrate. Bellamy, because he had come up with the idea wanted to join them as well, accompanied by an interested Miller. Clarke believed Miller was finding his own alpha male to follow and she was happy for him.

The four headed outside to begin the patrol, but stopped as Clarke froze in her tracks. She could feel something or someone watching her. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. "We're not alone. Someone's out there," she growls. Clarke looks towards the trees, scanning. They'd been careful she thought, but it had been days since Dax was murdered and there would be retaliation for that. Or Finn could have finally come back to attempt to drag her home. She was a bit paranoid still, but she distinctly felt like she was being watched.

"I don't smell anyone. I don't see anything out of ordinary either." Bellamy answers, but his eyes scan the tree line, his body tensing in preparation for a possible shift.

"We're upwind," Raven mentions, and Clarke tests the air. Raven's right, meaning that their enemy could see, hear and smell them, but they in turn were blind.

"I don't like this." Miller says as he scans the area. "We're the predators here, not the prey."

"Not right now were not." Raven answers with a snap of her words.

Clarke does a double take as she catches a glint of golden eyes in the brush. Instantly she shifts, not caring that this wolf has clearly not come right out to attack. Safety was more important and Clarke was happier in preparing to expect everyone to come as a foe before a friend. Her wolf sensed no challenge as their pursuer remained hidden, but Clarke wasn't taking any chances.

Clarke feels another pack mate shift behind her and by the energy he possess', she knows it's Bellamy. He pads up to her side scanning for the threat she has obviously become aware of. Clarke's ears peel back as she sees the gold eyes again and a deep growl rumbles out of the wolf at her side.

" _Show yourself!"_ Clarke yells into the night, the hair on her back risen and her eyes trained on the new wolf's eyes. Not a muscle in her body moves as she remains frozen, prepared to fight.

" _I mean you no harm, Clarke."_ Out of the woods steps a very familiar wolf. One Clarke has known and been close to since infancy. A large shaggy near fully black wolf steps out of the shadows and grandly moves forward. His name is Marcus Kane and he'd been her father's best friend and a second father to Clarke.

" _Marcus!"_ Clarke cannot contain her glee as she runs towards someone she knows she can trust. Her tail is wagging and her ears perk up as she reaches him and inhales his familiar scent.

" _What are you doing here?"_ Clarke asks, surprised yet completely thrilled to see him. Had he managed to desert the pack as well and find his way here?

" _I've been watching you from the moment you left Clarke. You're father told me that if anything was ever to happen to him, that I would be the one to protect you."_ His golden eyes gaze into hers, his deep voice rumbles and his presence immediately makes her feel safe again.

" _My father?"_ Clarke asks. Her father had thought he'd be killed? He'd known she'd need protection?

" _Yes, Clarke. And I'm here to help you. I know you've been looking for a means to get out the rest of your pack."_ Clarke doesn't miss how he says her pack and not Abby's. _"I'm here to offer my assistance."_

" _How?"_ Clarke asks. She is grateful and Marcus is one of the strongest wolves Clarke has ever met, but he is still only one man, one wolf and she has no idea how he can provide the desperate numbers they need.

" _As far as your mother knows, I am merely out searching for you. I told her I would not return until I had found you. She knows nothing about me coming to help you or that I know where you are. She believes my loyalties are strictly with her. I will go back and tell her that I have found you. I can gather some intelligence about your friends when I go back, set up a meeting with you and then lead her away from the territory. If she believes I have found you highly guarded by a new pack, she will bring her strongest warriors and abandon the prisoners. You can break in and get them out while I lead her to a false decoy for you."_ Marcus seems determined and Clarke thinks it is a good plan, but there are so many risks…

" _Clarke, I think we found our way in."_ Bellamy states with a grin on his face and Clarke's heart both jumps for joy at the possibility of finally rescuing her friends, her family, but it also falls because she knows that the risks for Marcus are high and she can't lose another person she loves to her mother.

She doesn't know if she would survive it.


	6. Chapter 6

Part 6

"No." Clarke sternly answers. She just couldn't risk losing him. There was no way she was sending him back in to create a distraction only to be found out in the end with a very high chance of him being killed. "I've lost enough people."

Clarke remembers her father's torn apart body… The blood all around the room. Hearing the news of Glass and Del's deaths. She doesn't want to think about what her friends are going through right now because they had tried to follow her. If Marcus was caught, they wouldn't just kill him… they would brand him a traitor, torture him and kill him publically.

"Clarke, I'll be gone before they realize I've led them into a false trap for you. You need someone to go back and get Intel for you. Let me do this for not only you, but the rest of the pack trapped behind those walls." Clarke knew he was right, but she didn't want to risk him. She'd lost her father, she couldn't lose her second father too. She couldn't bear to add his name to the list.

"No, not until we talk this through." Clarke repeated, remaining stern on the matter.

"Clarke, I am over twice your age. I'll make my own damn decisions." Marcus looks down at her with a pointed gaze and she knows there's nothing that will stop him. "If I can get the strong wolves out, you will have a much better chance of sneaking back in and rescuing those who would follow you."

"He's right Clarke and you know it." Bellamy answers, meeting Clarke's gaze. He is showing her sympathy, but he is also conveying that he knows it is the best plan.

"I know," Clarke sighs, defeated. "You get yourself killed and I swear I will drag you back from the grave just to kill you again. Got it?"

"Got it kiddo." Marcus gives her one of his kind smiles and she knows he will take care of himself.

Three hours later, the four young wolves and Marcus have finished their first patrol. Roma, Octavia and Murphy head out for the second. Clarke is sitting back inside the little house on the couch beside Marcus drilling him on what he knew and what had happened back home. Unfortunately he didn't seem to know much other than each member of Clarke's pack the sinsters had been caught, locked up and were currently awaiting trial. Abby was trying to have Clarke's disappearance known to the rest of the pack as her being kidnapped by the Grounders because they never kept their word. Although none of them had owned up to kidnapping her. Clarke found out that many of the older shifters had taken to publically dominating the younger shifters, making sure each knew their place in the pack, blood spilt or not.

Clarke grew enraged to say the least. Each child, each teenager, each young adult were being forced to submit and take whatever the older shifters did to them. That was not okay. And Clarke needed to get them out now before it was too late and they began to truly believe that this was what life in the pack was meant to be like.

"No one is fighting back?" Clarke asks, shocked that no one, not even one had tried to fight back and refuse to submit, refuse to be whipped, refuse to watch a friend or family member be beaten. Raven, Miller and her couldn't have been the only ones to have escaped successfully. And why hadn't Finn come back yet?

"All the ones the Council assumed would fight back or refuse have to my knowledge been silenced." Marcus answers her question silently. He isn't proud of what is happening, he isn't happy that he made it out. Clarke isn't happy either. She feels guilty and upset because she ran and not one of her pack was left unscathed because of it. Not one shifter had been protected by her like she was supposed to do.

She had run to protect herself and left everyone else behind to suffer.

"We need to go as soon as possible. Do you have a time frame for this plan? I'm free for basically the rest of my life, so sooner is better." Clarke adds some dry humor in, not trying to lighten the mood, but to show that she's angry that she has the rest of her life while her pack mates may only have days.

"I can leave tonight Clarke. I know you are in capable hands here. You'll be safe here if you lay low. Once I get back I will send word. I'll inform you when we'll be leaving to your decoy and how many we'll be leaving with." Marcus takes a moment to pause before adding, "Now Clarke, some of your pack will not be the same as when you last saw them. You need to be ready for that."

"I will. I'll give them whatever they need when we have them, but we need to get them out before it's too late. Please Marcus… I know what it's like. Some of them won't last much longer." Clarke knows some of the younger shifters aren't strong enough to handle what she herself had gone through and whatever else her mother was putting them through. Some of them would be dead soon if they didn't go now.

"I know Clarke. As long as they are holding onto some hope, most of them will not break. Once I get there I will assess the damage. Your mother is somewhat more lenient to me and I will use that. I promise I will get her out of there as soon as I can. I have no doubt that the moment your location is given, she will be eager to leave and find you." Marcus gives her hand a squeeze. "It will be alright Clarke. Take this one day at a time and we will get there."

"Thank you Marcus. I forget sometimes that Rome wasn't built in a day." Clarke gives a weak smile before she stands to her feet. "Promise you'll be careful."

"I will Clarke. And you too. You are the heir to a very powerful dynasty Clarke, if you rule it wisely and live long enough to claim it." Marcus stands in front of her always reminding her of wisdom as the best action to take.

"I'll be smart. I won't be rash. Okay?" Clarke reaches in for a hug from the man she'd looked up to and cared for like a second father or an overprotective Uncle.

"What of the Grounders? Is an alliance still possible with them?" Clarke asks, pulling away. If an alliance still stands through a marriage of her to Tristan or another of their choosing, she will do it. She needs the numbers and she wants the alliance. Too many lives had been lost between the Grounders and the Sky Cru over generations and Clarke believed it was time for a change.

"It could be, but I would advise against it. It wouldn't be wise to ally with them right now when you are so vulnerable. They could take advantage of that. When the time to ally with them comes, you will know."

Clarke nods her head in acceptance. No current alliance with the Grounders then.

"How are you going to fit all of them in here? This place is barely holding all of you." Marcus questions, pointing out the obvious question Clarke herself had mauled over countless times.

"I just want to save them first." Clarke replies knowing that all she can think about is saving them. Once they have her friends back, then they can worry about how to fit them all in here.

"Here," Marcus hands her a large brown envelope. "This may help. It's from your father and he wanted you to have it on your eighteenth birthday. I figure it's close enough."

Clarke accepts the envelope and stares at it. What was in the envelope? What had her father believed she would need?

"Thank you."

"I should be going. Open that and see what it is. It will help." Marcus then pulls Clarke in for another hug.

Clarke nods and walks Marcus out the door. She watches him change from the tall, olive skinned man with the trimmed dark hair turn into the nearly full black wolf with the golden eyes. She meets his gaze as he looks back at her and howls before running off into the night.

*Octavia's POV*

Octavia is about done with this patrol. She is bored and tired and ready to go home. The company sucks and all she can do is keep from screaming out at Roma who can't keep from showing off and biting Murphy in the ass for constantly getting in her way. Why had she been sent out with these two?

" _There's nothing out here, so why are we even here?"_ Roma complains for the umpteenth time.

" _I don't know Roma, maybe because we're under threat from someone who could be out here when we aren't. So we're out here to make sure no one comes near without our knowing."_ Octavia sasses back. She's had enough of this bitch acting like Queen just because she's sleeping with Bellamy.

Roma scowls and trots ahead with her head held high. Octavia rolls her eyes. She watches the white wolf with a covering of a soot colour ahead. Her eyes are more of a brown gold and her ears are tipped with black. She's a little larger than Octavia which makes her think for some reason she has power over the younger shifter and she just loves to show it.

" _I think you might have pissed her off little Blake."_ Murphy of course is amused by everything. He's always amused, always itching for a fight.

" _Good, maybe now she'll run into a tree and we'll have something exciting to come back with."_ Octavia grumbles as she tries to get ahead of the little scoundrel who can't stop calling her little Blake! It's annoying and she hates it and he does it to drive her up a wall.

" _That would make this night more interesting."_ Murphy says, once more coming up to her side. Murphy is a smaller wolf, thinner and shorter than a normal male wolf. His body is covered in shades of black, white, gray and brown, each melding together and breaking apart. His eyes are glowing a bright yellow, much brighter than her own. Murphy almost looks like a coyote wolf hybrid, but she's never commented on that.

" _So would you shutting up."_ Octavia rolls her eyes watching around half hazardly for anything out of the ordinary, but she really doesn't expect anything.

" _The little Blake's got bite. Rawr."_ Murphy chuckles slightly and mocks fear. He's getting on her nerves. _"Oh c'mon, it's funny."_

" _Not really. Let's just focus, we don't want poor Roma getting lost out here. Poor Bellamy would so heartbroken."_ Octavia mocks, she knows her brother isn't really interested in Roma romantically, just knows that he's a bit of a man-whore and she's his current go to. It kind of pisses her off though. He gets his fun and she doesn't. He's scared off any suitors every time one shows up. She hasn't even had her first kiss and she's seventeen.

" _Oh I'm sure our princess would pick up the pieces."_ Murphy says.

" _What, Clarke? Those two can't stand each other."_ Octavia answers knowing full well the two couldn't be in a room together without it becoming a screaming fest.

" _Oh little Blake, you've missed so much these last days of grieving. Those two are getting close. I think Bellamy might actually trust her now. And she's definitely letting him in some."_ Murphy says. _"I'm betting that within a couple weeks those two will be going at each other."_

" _How do you know this?"_ Octavia asks, like seriously, Bellamy didn't trust anyone. Certainly not Murphy or Roma. He'd only let her in on occasion, but no one else besides their mother.

" _Being the quiet observer has its perks. I see all little Blake. Just you wait and see."_ Murphy winks as he runs ahead to find Roma.

Could Bellamy really be learning to trust another person? Another person that wasn't her? Maybe he was actually becoming an adult and letting someone in who could help balance him out. Maybe Bellamy would help Clarke get through everything she'd been through. Maybe she was the yin to his yang.

*Bellamy's POV*

Bellamy watches silently from the hallway, watches Clarke say goodbye to the man she seemed to care for. Bellamy faintly remembers Marcus Kane, remembers a loyal man who had been the right hand man of Jake Griffin. He knows that Marcus Kane is a good man. And he hopes that this plan will work. He knows that Clarke will suffer if Marcus dies.

Bellamy watches Clarke walk to the couch and hesitate with the envelope in her hand. It's clear she's nervous to open the package. She stares at it, almost caressing it before finally tearing the envelope open. Clarke first pulls out a letter, one probably from her father if her tears are any indication.

Bellamy wants to comfort her and let her know it's okay, but this is something she should do on her own.

Ten minutes later, Clarke calls him into the room. The tears in her eyes are drying, but red rimmed. What would he be like if he got a final letter from his mother?

"Bellamy, this – this letter. My father, he for some reason thought I'd need a way out. There's a house Bellamy. A large house to start a new pack. A house that he got under my name. One only Marcus and my father knew about. It's somewhere safe. My mother couldn't find us there and it would be large enough for everyone once we get them out. There's – there's a credit card too. Um, supposedly prepaid with a lot of money. How did he know Bellamy? How could he have possibly known I would need an escape route?" Clarke holds the letter up to his face, waving it, tears beginning to fall again.

"I don't know Clarke. Maybe he just had a feeling you would end up needing a back-up plan." Bellamy pauses. How _would_ her father have known? Had he had an inkling something wouldn't work out for Clarke?

"Clarke?" Bellamy calls to her. Her head turns to face him and she has a tear falling down her cheek. "Marcus will be alright. He knows how to take care of himself."

"I know, but I can't help but worry. Bad things happen to the people who get close to me. My mother makes sure of that." Clarke sniffles and wipes her eyes. "I'm fine. I think we should move locations. It would be safer to move and we'll need the space. Maybe there we can start over."

"Let's just think this over first, okay? Once we get your people out, we'll figure it out. One step at a time." Bellamy gently rests a hand on her shoulder, knowing she would need the support.

"Okay." She answers.

*Clarke's POV*

Clarke left Bellamy half hour ago for the safety of the woods around the house. She doesn't go very far, just far enough to find some peace and quiet. Somewhere she can breathe and mourn. Her father died months ago, but this letter, this gift, tore open the few stitches she'd placed in her heart.

She read it over and over again. How could he have known? If he knew something, why didn't he do anything? Why didn't he protect himself better? Why did he allow Abby to run the pack without him? She was a monster and not very good at hiding it even when Jake Griffin had been alive. Often times he would come home from a trip to find Clarke mentally scarred from something and rare times, physically injured from a punishment hours earlier.

She flips the letter over in her hands again and takes a moment to read it again.

My Darling Clarke,

I am so happy to be able to gift you this on your eighteenth year. It has been a pleasure to watch you grow and I am proud of the woman you have become. You will rule this pack wisely one day my darling and I wish that I am able to see that.

In this envelope I have presented you with a pre-paid visa, a photo of a house, a set of keys and this letter. I want this to be a gift for you if ever you are in need. If ever you feel this is not the life you wish to have. I have always wanted the best for you and I know that I have not always given it to you. Let this be what makes up for the missing time and the mistakes I've made. Let this be a gift for you to start over. I have saved this money for you for a long time, wanting to present it to you for your 18th year. I want you to use it for yourself. I want you to live Clarke. Whether that means leaving the pack and starting over or marrying Tristan and beginning an alliance years in the making. I want you to be happy always my daughter.

This house in the picture is a place I bought under your name, a getaway just for you. I know life can be hard sometimes and I might not always be here, but it is my wish that you remain safe and live the life you want. This house is safe Clarke, only Marcus and I know of it and as far as I know, the location remains unclaimed. Think with your heart Clarke, always. Logic is important, but love… love is key.

All my love,  
Dad.

He had known something, Clarke was sure of it. So why had he let himself be murdered? Clarke wanted to tell herself it didn't matter right now, but to her, it did. She loved her father, she loved the way he had taken care of the pack, had sought alliances and tried to end wars. He was a good leader. How was she supposed to live up to that? So far her leadership skills had gotten three people killed.

"Clarke?" Clarke snaps her head to see Bellamy walking towards her, Miller close behind. He looks a little disheveled and Miller seems ever alert as always.

"You shouldn't be out here alone. It's not safe, especially for you." Bellamy rests a hand against the tree she is sitting against. With her sitting on the ground and him standing above her, he truly looks intimidating, but he is gently speaking to her.

"He's right Clarke. We've got to keep you safe." Miller nods, the beanie he is known for constantly wearing being fidgeted with. He meets her gaze softly and she sighs before he pulls her to her feet.

"I should be going to bed soon I guess. It's been a long night. Thank you." Clarke gently presses a hand to Miller's shoulder and sends Bellamy a small smile. She silently walks inside, both boys silently trailing behind her. She's tired and this new house, this new beginning for them is beginning to look better and better.


	7. Chapter 7

Part 7

Clarke doesn't sleep well that night, but that's a normal occurrence for her. She hasn't slept well since her father died. Between the nightmares and the fear of falling asleep and being caught unawares by someone working for her mother, Clarke doesn't do good night sleeps.

Clarke stayed awake until the patrol of Octavia, Murphy and Roma came back saying nothing was out of the ordinary and the next rotation of Miller and Monroe went out. Clarke was worried that with only two, something would happen and her nerves were simply getting the better of her. So she gently pulls the blankets off of her and Raven while attempting to quietly sneak out of the sleeping bags. No luck as Raven begins to stir.

"Where ya going?" Raven mumbles and her eyes briefly flutter.

"Just for a walk. Go back to sleep." Clarke smiles and gives Raven's shoulder a light squeeze.

"I'll come with you," Raven yawns and begins to stretch fully intending on following Clarke.

"No, you need to sleep. I'll be fine. I'm not going anywhere far. Promise." Clarke reassuringly grips Raven's hand before she nods and falls back into slumber, lightly snoring.

Clarke is happy that her friend is sleeping soundly. That she is here, safe with her. Well safer than if she was back with Clarke's mother. Raven looks content as she sleeps and Clarke wishes she could sleep so well. In all the time that Clarke has been here, she hasn't watched Raven awake from some terrible nightmare, drenched in sweat, eyes wild like Clarke herself had so many nights. She wonders how Raven has such a strong mind while asleep while Clarke's begins to break down. The two were truly opposites, but connected by it. Clarke wonders how Raven is able to keep out the voices, the smells, the phantom hands lingering too long. Raven had been brutally abused for years, probably worse than Clarke herself. Yet she remained strong despite it. Clarke wished she could have been so strong before she had run and left her pack in the ruins that lay behind.

Clarke walks downstairs and expects to see Bellamy, but he seems to be out. Murphy though is passed out on the couch. She tries not to wake him, but he opens his eyes and grumbles something she can't understand before turning over and going back to bed.

And suddenly the silence is broken as Miller storms through the door. Behind him is Monroe followed by Bellamy. Murphy jumps up at the commotion and notices something is off. Clarke notices too. Miller is happy or excited or thrilled about something and Monroe is confused. So is Bellamy.

"You know these people Clarke?" Bellamy looks into her eyes, not knowing how to assess the situation.

"Who?" Clarke asks confused just as Atom, Charlotte, Fox and… and Wells all come through the door.

"Wells?" Clarke exclaims running forward and throwing herself into his arms. And she's being held by her best friend and he's safe. And she's missed him. Oh how she's missed him and the security he provides her. He's warm and his scent fills her nose, mint and his own musk and a hint of pine. He pulls her forward and kisses her smack on the lips. It's brief, short, but there.

"Woah, did not see that one coming," Murphy says.

Neither had Clarke…

She awkwardly pulls back slightly and faces everyone again. They seem to be staring at her and she sheepishly moves some hair behind her ear.

"How did you guys get out?" Clarke exclaims reaching for the young girl Charlotte. She looks a little thin, but otherwise alright physically. Mentally though… she had to be a wreck.

"We never really went back." Fox says shyly. She'd always been the shy girl at the back of the room covering her face and hiding behind everyone else. She seems a little worse for wear, the group probably not eating well enough. "When Jaha and Shumway came, we ran. They followed us for five days before they caught up and took Ella back. I didn't want to leave her, but if I didn't then I just- I don't know what they'd have done to me and I just couldn't- I was so scared." Clarke rushes towards the girl and holds her close as she mourns for the younger sister she'd left behind.

"We're going to get her, alright? I'm sure she'll be fine. How long ago did they catch up?" Clarke comforts Fox, but turns her gaze to Wells. She feels awkward meeting his gaze as it fills with regret and rejection.

"We all left a month after you and when they got us the first time, we lost a bunch. I guess Raven and Miller stuck together and found you. We just ran. We were safer together, but then a week later, they found us and the last three weeks we didn't rest, didn't really eat. We were constantly watching our backs." Wells answers her, but he looks ashamed.

"What's wrong?" Clarke asks, confused as to why he would look ashamed. Doesn't he know that she had done worse than him by not even trying to save a single one of her pack members when she herself left?

"I didn't know Clarke, I swear I didn't know. If I had, things would be different. My father – he had no right to do those things to you. I'm so sorry Clarke." Wells takes a step forward, but Clarke shakes her head. Now is not the time nor the place. She needs to calm Fox down and get each of them settled and fed before she starts her patrol with Bellamy and Raven in an hour.

"Why don't you all go into the kitchen and grab some food and maybe some coffee. Fox, Charlotte, there's a room upstairs you're welcome to go get some rest in. We're doing patrols, but none of you need to do them, not until you feel ready. Okay?" Clarke holds Fox close still, rubbing her back.

Each nod, Fox parting with Clarke where she follows little Charlotte upstairs. Atom looks around before silently walking out the front door. She'd expected such. Atom never dealt with his problems openly or with a group, he stuck with himself other than when he stuck with Del… but Del was dead. And Glass was dead. And maybe more were dead, but maybe more had fled and lived. Maybe Clarke hadn't failed all of them yet.

Wells doesn't move, just stays in place. "I'll help with patrols." Wells says, still somewhat quiet.

"Thank you," Clarke answers, unsure of how to proceed. Her childhood friend had just kissed her and she didn't know how to process that. Wells was obviously taking it as some form of rejection while Clarke just didn't have the time to deal with that right now. She needed to make sure that Fox and Charlotte got some food to eat, and Atom had some time to cool off in peace and that the four young shifters hadn't been followed.

"We're you out with them Bellamy?" Clarke asks, curious as to why Bellamy had been out, knowing he wasn't listed for the patrol.

"No, but I was hunting and this one," he points to Monroe, "found me and told me she'd found a group of shifters lurking around. I went with her, worried it was the Finn guy and some other members out to find you. And we find them, hungry, lost and desperate. So we talked to them and they told us they were escapees of a pack that had tried to kill them. I figured they might have been from your pack. That's when Miller showed up and confirmed it." Bellamy answers. Clarke can tell he's still not entirely sure about this group, but he's willing to trust them for now. That's all she can ask.

"Okay. I think that we should start our patrol now. I don't want to wake Raven though, it's too early for her. Maybe Wells can join us." Clarke looks to Bellamy for confirmation that he is okay with this, the decision not resting in her hands alone, but the both of them.

"If he's up to it." Bellamy doesn't acknowledge Wells as he agrees, but addresses Clarke with the folded arms she'd become accustomed to as his, 'I don't like this, but I guess I have no choice' pose.

The three leave moments later after informing Miller and Murphy to keep an eye on the newcomers and make sure they felt comfortable and got something to eat.

*Octavia's POV*

Octavia is around the corner when the newcomers arrive. She notices the two girls as the one clings to Clarke as if her mother or caretaker. The other so small and tiny, and she wonders how she made it through the weeks. She witnesses the awkward kiss between the dark boy and Clarke and how Bellamy locks his jaw at the encounter. Lastly she notices the dark haired, tall boy who looks at her and meets her gaze with a smile before leaving out the door.

Octavia is curious. This is the first boy she's really ever been interested in knowing. Been interested in maybe following. It might not be the best idea, but when had her ideas ever really been the best?

She follows him out. He is waiting a few minutes' walk away by a small clearing in the woods. He is looking out into the forest beyond and Octavia wonders what is going on in his head. What horrors he's been through.

"It's beautiful here." Octavia is startled when he speaks, voice like velvet, and calm as if he had expected her to follow him. "Back home, we lived in a private village, not much to do but feel caged. We didn't really get out too often, only when escorted by the elders. But here, I can feel the forest, I can breathe. I don't feel fenced in, even though I know I'm being hunted."

"I used to live there. I never really left my house, so I can understand. The one day my brother took me out… I never wanted to go back." Octavia steps up next to him. "I'm Octavia."

"Atom." The boy says, meeting her gaze.

Octavia blushes.

"Want to go for a run?" Atom looks at her with a sparkle in his eyes and she can't refuse.

"I'd love to." Octavia answers, running ahead of him before leaping into the air and landing on all fours.

*Bellamy's POV*

Bellamy doesn't like the idea of one of the newcomers coming with them. He doesn't like him and no it's not because he kissed Clarke and he'd felt something, _not jealousy_ , he tells himself, just weariness. He didn't trust this guy and here he was invited into the pack with the snap of Clarke's fingers. How much did they really know about Wells? Bellamy doesn't really remember him other than the times he saw him hanging around Clarke back when he was still part of the pack. He seems like he could be a good guy, but he's a _Jaha_ and Bellamy has never trusted the Jaha's.

Murphy didn't like the guy either. Bellamy could smell the distaste on him when Wells entered the room. Something about the way Wells carried himself, the way his scent lingered. It was almost as if he was vying for alpha here and Bellamy wasn't about to put up with a challenger. But maybe he was growing a little paranoid with all the newcomers and the patrols and his sister. Maybe, he was wrong.

Bellamy walks ahead of Clarke and Wells behind him, the three all currently wolves. Bellamy recognizes the white wolf by her scent of honey and pine and he memorizes the scent of the new ash gray and white coloured wolf smelling of mint and his own unique smell there was no real name for.

Bellamy is leading the way, scenting each couple of trees by rubbing his back on them and digging a little in the dirt beneath. He wants all to know this is still his land, especially with the juvenile wolf behind him. He trusts Clarke knows what is best when it comes to Wells, but Bellamy just has an inkling, but he doesn't know quite what.

Bellamy soon overhears the pair conversing and he is intrigued.

"Why are you here? You could have gone anywhere Clarke." Wells sounds slightly angry, maybe a little jealous.

"They found me, Wells. They saved me from Finn who would have dragged me back. I know we still need to discuss what happened, but we work well together now. Maybe one day we'll be a real pack." Clarke answers. Bellamy can hear the hope residing in her tone, but he can also hear the fear.

"He's a traitor Clarke. His mother was a traitor. He's dangerous. How can you stay with him?" Bellamy bristles at the mention of his mother, but Clarke surprises him. Surprises him again.

"His mother was no more a traitor than you or me. All she did was love someone outside the pack and have a child with him. Bellamy… he isn't a traitor and neither is Octavia. Her only crime was being born and to me that's not a crime. Bellamy, he left the security of the pack to help his sister. That's not a traitor to me Wells." Clarke sounds annoyed now and Bellamy can't believe she defended him.

"You can't be serious Clarke." Wells sounds irritated.

"I trust him," Clarke exclaims. Bellamy can't quite comprehend that she is defending him, but she is. Clarke trusts him and Bellamy realizes that he trusts her too.

"You can't be serious Clarke." Wells prods.

"I am. I make my own decisions Wells. If you don't like them, then go back home." Clarke snorts and Bellamy hears her pick up her pace until she is beside him.

"Lovers quarrel, princess?" Bellamy asks, smirking. He just wants to see her reaction. Wants to know if she does indeed care for this boy or if she was as surprised by the kiss as she had acted earlier.

"We're just friends." Clarke snaps and rolls her eyes. It's clear her intentions regarding the Jaha are not the same as the Jaha's regarding her. Good.

Maybe now Bellamy can tell himself that Clarke isn't just a girl he is growing to trust, but maybe a little more.


	8. Chapter 8

Part 8

*Bellamy's POV*

"You know that won't work." Wells says again, probably the tenth time to the fourth idea Bellamy has had. Bellamy lets out a frustrated sigh.

"Look. Wells," Bellamy runs a hand down his face. He has already snapped at the kid and he doesn't have the energy to snap again. Not when nothing gets through his thick skull.

"If we do it my way, let me take the lead, things will go much smoother." Wells steps closer to Bellamy, jaw tight, eyes boldly staring him down. Bellamy couldn't take this much longer. Wells was vying for alpha and he wasn't being quiet about it. Partly because as Bellamy believed, Wells wanted Clarke and it was clear that she was the female alpha here. And in order to claim her, Wells needed to be the alpha and well, that was Bellamy's hard earned position and he would fight for it.

Wells has been getting on Bellamy's nerves. Constantly. He has challenged every decision Bellamy has made. Has appeared every time Bellamy has tried to talk to Clarke as if he himself was one of their leaders. Has picked fights with Murphy each time they are in a room together and Bellamy's had enough. Bellamy has taken to snarling and growing angry each time Wells enters the room. Right now is no different, except Clarke walks in on the two snarling males and it is Clarke who speaks up.

"What is your problem?" Clarke tosses her hands in the air as she faces Wells. "Bellamy hasn't been there in years. There's no way he remembers everything and just because you think that you should be in charge doesn't mean you are."

Bellamy is impressed as she manages to silence the juvenile male. Clarke then takes Bellamy by the arm to the corner of the room, not trying to hide her words from Wells.

"Bellamy, something is going on. I can feel the tension rolling off of you. If Wells is causing problems, let me handle him." Clarke rests a hand on his shoulder and gently squeezes.

"No, I'm alpha here and he is competing for that. I will destroy any thoughts he has about getting rid of me and you will stay out of it." Bellamy walks from her side angrily. He doesn't need Clarke to protect him. Doesn't need her to defend his title.

"Alright, but don't kill him. We need him Bellamy. We need all of them." Clarke slowly walks away and Bellamy is left pondering the pros and cons of killing the Jaha. It's hard enough cooling down Murphy once he gets something in his head. And well, Murphy isn't on the greatest terms with Wells and Bellamy is internally struggling with himself; to let Murphy kill Wells or do it himself. He sighs and shakes his head. Clarke is right, just like she almost always is. They need Wells, they need every damn shifter in this house.

It's a few days later when something doesn't feel right. The air is off. The wind is gone. The trees are silent. Bellamy has been in these woods for years now and not once has it felt so quiet. Not a squirrel moves in the trees, not a rabbit in the bushes, even the stream in the distance seems to be eerily calm.

Something is wrong and he doesn't know what.

But he just knows that the end of the calm they have been experiencing is finally here.

*Octavia's POV*

Octavia is out with Atom again. She can't get enough of this boy who showers her with kisses and gifts of lilies she's no idea where he's gotten from. She thinks maybe… maybe she could be in love. Love with a boy she's just met, a boy who's showed her this new world. A boy who makes her feel safe and cherished and normal.

Everything is normal. And then it's not.

The woods go silent and that hasn't happened before. It's not a quiet of the animals hiding from a predator, it's as if the woods feel that something wicked is coming. Something it knows it cannot escape from.

Octavia feels an eerie shiver run up her spine as if she's being watched. Both Atom and her are currently wolves, just enjoying the sun in a clearing not too far from the house. She feels as though they're not alone and Atom looks at her alarmed because he feels it too. Something is here with them, something they cannot hide from.

" _Atom?"_ Octavia grows cold even though the heat from the sun has been making her pant.

" _We should leave."_ Atom stands to his feet and shakes his body out, as if he is trying to shake off the shadows enveloping them.

And it is just as they are walking from the clearing that Octavia and Atom begin to run and not walk. Octavia's eyes scan the woods and her ears peel back, listening for danger. But no danger is coming. Not yet.

But they are not alone.

Suddenly Octavia finds herself running away from the house, away from her friends, some instinct tells her to run away from them, to get far away. She would be leading the shadows right to her family. Atom looks at her and she knows he cannot let them go towards the pack either. Neither want more blood spilt if something attacks. Although maybe they would be safer with the pack, more able to defend themselves.

As she thinks, Octavia is hit.

Hard.

She is knocked to the forest ground with the brunt force of another wolf knocking her over. She doesn't understand at first, doesn't understand why her shoulder is red, yet she feels no pain, but then she knows, knows it is not her blood, but the wolf's who knocked her down.

"We need to run. Now!" It's Roma who has knocked her down, Roma who is bleeding, who is so panicked her eyes have turned almost black. She is shaking all over and Octavia should heal her.

"Let me heal you-" Octavia steps towards the girl she's never really liked, who's always looked down on her. But in this moment, Octavia doesn't see that girl, she's sees a terrified girl who she wants to comfort and keep safe. But if Roma was here, then where were Miller and Monroe who had been on patrol with her?

"Run, now." Roma screams out. Her mouth is dripping blood and her eyes are glazing over. She wobbles to her feet, obviously in a lot of pain and leaps forward, but doesn't make it far. A silent shot is heard by Octavia, only heard because she is so near and has extra good hearing. Mid leap Roma is hit. The shot lands its mark in Roma's chest where she immediately crumples to the ground, rolling onto her side, legs twitching, tongue and blood trickling out of her mouth. The blood is oozing from the hole in her chest, her eyes going glassy while staring up to the sky.

Octavia screams.

She gives Roma's now still body a quick look before she is running for her life beside Atom. This is the worst day ever and Octavia can barely breathe. Was Roma dead? That girl deserved a lot of things, but not death. Not to die at the hands of something before she'd been granted a nineteenth birthday.

Octavia feels a bullet graze her side, slicing open a tiny piece of her flesh. It burns as if made of silver. Her ears flatten against her head, as her eyes widen and she jumps. Whatever is out there is trying to shoot _her_ now. Trying to _kill_ her.

Roma wasn't enough for these monsters. A girl who was barely an adult wasn't enough. A life taken wasn't enough. They… it… them… wanted more. More blood, more death and Octavia was determined it wouldn't be her.

Atom is shot at next and the bullet nearly meets its mark, but not quite. It moves them apart, further away from each other. Separating them. They wanted to separate them. Make them vulnerable by themselves.

Octavia still doesn't know what is hunting them. Doesn't know if she wants to know.

She looks beside her to Atom and Atom is gone.

He isn't beside her, but she has no choice, she must run for her life.

*Bellamy's POV*

"I need to find Octavia." Bellamy barges in the door and finds Clarke sitting on the couch with Fox.

"You feel it too?" Clarke asked. "Fox and I, we've been feeling, off." Clarke looks at Bellamy and he knows she knows something. She has that look in her eyes, guilt maybe, but obviously the knowledge of something she wasn't about to share.

"Oh I don't just feel off. No, the forest is quiet like it's never been before. Something is wrong and I feel like something bad is going to happen. Octavia's out there and I'm going to get her. Just letting you know." Bellamy had taken to letting Clarke know when he was heading out, and she did the same. They often went places together, as a team, for security.

"I'll come with you." Clarke stands to her feet and there is a determined look on her face. Her blue eyes gaze into his and she looks so fierce. Yet that look of worry, of knowledge is still there, haunting her features. If she knew what was out there, then he wasn't about to let her keep quiet on the matter.

"Clarke…" Bellamy tilts his head and sighs. He wasn't going to win this battle and he really didn't have time to fight it either. "Stay close alright?"

"You'll be the one needing to stay close, snail. Keep up, alright." Clarke winks and brushes past him, out the door. Damn her for continuing to tease him for being slower than her. No, he couldn't beat her in a race, he wasn't built for that much speed, but she certainly was. Her sleek build let her fly with the wind and he admired that.

But right now, Octavia came first.

Both were no more than a few metres apart, following the trail that Octavia had left. Noses to the ground and ears perked high, listening for any trace of his sister. A couple hundred metres from where they started the search, blood hung in the air. It was clear as day. Someone had been injured.

Octavia…

Bellamy picks up his gait and Clarke glides in beside him, her face showing the worry she felt at the scent. She looks as if about to tell him something, but then he turns away. He has to find his sister. If she had been injured or God forbid he couldn't even say it, there would be Hell to pay.

But the body they stumble upon is not Octavia. It's not even recognizable. Just blood and gore remain. If not for the shifters powerful senses, there would be no way to recognize this body, not unless by doing a DNA test. Lying sprawled, legs twisted and body mangled, a once beautiful girl lay dead. But it wasn't his sister. The only recognizable feature was her scent. The girl was Roma and Bellamy wanted to howl his grief and tear the throat out of whomever had done this to his pack member. He doesn't know how to process the grief rushing through him in waves. She'd been his to protect and he had failed. Whatever monsters had murdered her were still out here and Bellamy was determined to find and slaughter them. This was no murder. It was brutal slaughter and mayhem.

Clarke sidles up against Bellamy's side and touches her nose to his shoulder in grief as well. Perhaps the two hadn't gotten along, but no one deserved this. Not one of them did. Not Roma, not Murphy or any other shifter belonging to this pack.

Roma was no longer Roma. If Clarke is surprised, she doesn't show it, doesn't show much other than fear and a sense of comfort for Bellamy. But Roma, no Roma was definitely no longer the beautiful girl or wolf he had known.

Her body had been mutilated; skinned and beheaded. Her blood coated the ground all around the furless body of the wolf that had once been magnificent. Bellamy smelt the fear that had taken over her before she'd been slaughtered. He couldn't afford to grieve for long, not with his sister still missing.

Roma's pink, bloody body, her intestines hanging out, the bone jutting from her neck, where her head used to remain… that picture would haunt him forever. That picture would change him as a leader. He would become more protective of his pack mates. He had to be. This is what was out here, what his sister now ran from. What the pack would have to run from. That damn house seemed like a good option right now.

But now he had to find his sister.

" _Bellamy I know-"_ But he cuts her off with a growl. There is no time for pity, not when his sister could be next.

So Bellamy walks away with Clarke close behind him and together they race against the clock to find his sister and avoid whatever killed Roma. Little does Bellamy know, he and Clarke are already being tracked.

*Octavia's POV*

Octavia is running and she's been running so long her lungs are beginning to hurt and her legs are beginning to tire. She swears she can still hear the horses hooves trampling close behind her, but she needs to rest. So ducking behind a bush, she lies down and pants for a few minutes. The horses are gone, or at least she can't hear them. She just focuses on breathing in and out and calming the heartbeat threatening to tear through her chest and alert them to her hideaway. She doesn't know how long she's been resting, but she knows the sound of a pack member, the sound of her kind. And she hears two shifters as wolves running in her direction.

So she stands and shifts back into her human form where she calls to them and is cut off by a large hand covering her mouth and another large arm wrapping around her waist. Octavia is pulled backwards and has to watch in horror as she sees her brother and Clarke running from something and moments later before she can call to them she notices the riders atop their horses chasing them down.

But she is powerless.

This captor is holding her with an iron grip and she can't move an inkling, can't shift, cannot fight her way free. His hand is as dark as Wells, and his scent is human, heavy with pine as if he lives long periods of time in the woods. That is the only descriptors she can gather. She doesn't know if he has come as a new foe or the enemy she'd been running from. The enemy who had killed Roma in front of her. Had separated Atom from her. Had done who knows what to Monroe and Miller on the patrol with Roma. Who were currently chasing her own brother down, to kill him and Clarke. But she doesn't want to find out. She wants to escape and help her brother, warn the rest of her pack. But she has to get out of his grip first.

Octavia screams against his hand, she could smell him, but she'd never come across his scent before. Had never faced a human so strong before. But maybe he was something different.

"Hush, or they will hear us." His lips are touching her ear as he speaks gently, calmly. New foe then? He couldn't be a friend… or maybe he could. He had just saved her from the riders, but he had sacrificed her brother and Clarke to do it. She had to get to them, help them. She had to alert the rest of the pack. They didn't know of the danger, didn't know how dangerous these monsters were.

Octavia fights again, fights to escape. She must tell her friends. She has to help her brother. Bellamy is all the family she's got left in this world. Her friends are the only ones she knows she can trust, knows will have her back and here she is letting them be hunted and killed.

"Stop fighting. I'm not here to hurt you." The man locks his arms around her tighter and she can barely breathe and has to stop fighting as he picks her up against his chest and begins carrying her somewhere. She doesn't know where he's taking her, but she doesn't want to go, doesn't want to leave her pack.

"I'm going to bring you somewhere safe. Your shoulder needs to be looked at." He says again and Octavia feels herself begin to trust that he is telling the truth and she won't be able to fight her way out of this one. So she stops fighting and lets him take her.

*Bellamy's POV*

It wasn't long after Bellamy and Clarke discovered Roma's body that the riders on dark horses began to chase them down. Each carried a gun of some kind and took turns shooting at either Clarke or himself. It had started at an easy pace, the start of a chase, but now the horses began galloping after the two shifters. It was almost as if it was a game to them.

Bellamy had a feeling these riders knew they weren't just ordinary wolves and he knew Clarke believed the same thing. Each of them tried to outsmart them, but they just ran them down. Bellamy couldn't lead them home, not if these riders as he expected, were the ones who had slaughtered Roma. He wasn't about to lead them to the pack where they would have many more to slaughter, so he leads Clarke through the brush away from the house.

Bellamy had to wonder if these were the assassins that Clarke's mother was going to send after them. Had to wonder how they'd found them if they were. But maybe they were the Mountain Men from the legends he'd been told of as a pup. A myth about hunters who knew of shifters and spent their lifetime tracking them down to hunt them in some kind of game. But that was a myth, it couldn't be real. It was just a story to scare pups, or was it? And he wants to ask Clarke, wants to know if this is of her mother's doing or if she is thinking they are hunters like him. Or maybe the riders are something else entirely. And that's when he realizes that Clarke is gone, and so are the riders.


	9. Chapter 9

Part 9

*Clarke's POV*

Clarke knows she is being hunted, knows she probably won't make it out of this alive. Knows that she will die just like Roma before her. But she can't let them kill anymore of her pack. It was her fault they were here and so she would lead them away until she could run no further and fate took over. She doesn't know who precisely is hunting her, doesn't know why they had killed Roma and not just come after her. But then she remembers how it was all a game. A game of cat and mouse. It was just a patrol Roma had been on, but then again, her mother's assassins took pleasure in killing any shifter they came across. It was a game to them, like flushing the rabbit from hiding and chasing it down. But now she was the rabbit because they had caught her trail and discovered her. As soon as Clarke realized who they were, she'd began to look for ways to split from Bellamy. Roma's skinned and beheaded body was the telltale sign of just who had finally tracked her down. She was the real one they wanted, the one they were here to hunt and anyone who got in the way would suffer. So she ran off when Bellamy ran ahead and led them away. She couldn't let them hurt him. She couldn't let them hurt anyone else. The things they would do–

She was a lone wolf and these hunters knew it, but Clarke couldn't let another one of her friends die. Couldn't risk calling for backup. She had to hope that Bellamy had yet to discover she had run. If he searched for her, she prayed he wouldn't find her. That no one would find her until the assassins had taken her dead or alive away from here. Because if they were caught – her nightmares were plagued by them too. The things she had endured in their presence… She couldn't let herself be caught up in those horrifying memories. One distracted second could lead to her downfall and then the rest of the people she had come to care for and love.

Clarke herself wasn't ready to die, not when she still had yet to rescue her friends from her mother, hadn't yet received word from Kane. But she would, she would die for her friends if that is what it took for the assassins to leave. She couldn't let them kill her friends because they wouldn't just kill them, they would slaughter them and smile while doing it. These assassins had been trained from birth to be desensitized to human emotion and murder. One of the first tasks each assassin had to complete was to murder the one they loved the most, be that mother, father, friend, etc. Of course the bullet was a blank, but none of the candidates knew that. Neither did the recipients of those bullets. Just the first of many tasks to be completed in the assassins training.

Clarke was scared. These hunters, these assassins were unpredictable. They would just as likely kill her as they would capture her, even if her mother gave the order for her to come back alive. It wasn't easy to control them; they were loyal to the one who gave them the most enjoyment. The thrill of the kill. They didn't function well when they didn't get to murder and so Abby sent them out not to kill, but to enjoy the slaughter. These assassins were different and extremely elite and dangerous. They had already made a hit on her shoulder, a wound that was meant to slow her down and make it easy to kill her or corner her in order to drag her back with them. If she had to guess, her mother had told them to simply bring her back breathing, but any other fun they might wish to heap upon her was alright, just to be part of the game.

Clarke begins running faster, her agility coming in handy, but still she cannot outrun the team on horseback chasing her, following the blood trail she is leaving from the wound in her shoulder. Damn it stung, a bullet made with silver, but there was no time to think about that. No time to think, just run. She can't risk being caught, not so close to the rest of the pack. They could easily track her to here and Clarke knew that once her pack knew she was being hunted by the assassins, they would come for her. They would come to the aid of their alpha, compelled by their bond to protect her. She couldn't let that happen.

So run she did.

She runs through the forest. The leaves crinkling beneath her paws. The scents of the woods filling her nostrils as she passes multiple trees carrying the scents of the previous inhabitants and prey. Clarke knows she cannot lead them back home, they would find her friends and kill them too. So where can she run to? Where can she hide? Where can she lead them to that the pack wouldn't easily find her? Raven at least would have sensed her fear through the blood bond they shared, the second in command's right. The ability for the second to be able to better protect their alpha. And Raven had come to Clarke's aid many times, but she couldn't let her find her. Not this time. Not yet. In order to do that, she formed a mental shield in her mind, willing her very essence to obey and disrupt the connection between the two just for a few more miles.

The hooves pounding against the ground quicken behind her, gaining ground. The horses' lungs pounding with the time of her heart. The riders calling to one another, knowing they are almost upon her again. They got close last time, close enough to shoot her shoulder. She can feel the bullet lodged in the muscles and feels the ache the silver lining is causing. She can't keep this pace up for much longer, not with her shoulder burning and tearing with each step. If she doesn't stop the bleeding soon, she could very well pass out from blood loss.

Clarke makes the quick and courageous decision to stop running. To turn around and face the assassins. She must lead them away from her home and from her partner. She slides to a stop and faces the incoming riders. She growls low, her eyes burning brighter as she lunges towards them, hoping to gain a lead as they struggle to turn their horses around.

The horses stumble and panic as she runs at them. The riders confused at her boldness. They didn't see this coming. Luckily as she runs at them, she is able to halt their team and take a chunk out of the last bay mare's back tendon. She won't be able to run with that and that meant only four more riders.

Clarke believes she has gained herself at least a few more precious seconds to get away, but she is taken by surprise by a sixth rider far behind the group, gun aimed right at her, his face covered with a mask.

There is no time to leap out of the way as the bullet is fired and meets its mark in her abdomen. Her yelp is heard far as she falls to the ground, face first. There isn't enough time to stop and the momentum causes her to skid and roll over. Clarke registers the pain of the bullet wounds, but her body is going into shock and the adrenaline pumping throughout her as she desperately tries to get away causes the blood to pump out of her faster.

Clarke pants on the ground, begging her wolf to stay so she can defend herself, but she is growing weaker by the second. Weaker as she struggles to stand again. Her tail thumping wildly against the twigs and dirt littering the ground. Her mental shield shatters and her pain is broadcast through her bond. She tries to contain it, but she cannot.

Clarke knows she is bleeding out much faster than she can heal, she needs a pack member now or she will die from blood loss. Her eyes meet those of the sixth rider as he dismounts with a knife in his hand, a vicious scent waving off of him. She knows his scent.

He walks towards her and she growls, but her breath is knocked out of her as he kicks her in the ribs.

"Not so dangerous now, are you Clarke?" His voice is softer than she imagined as he settles down next her and he has the audacity to _pet_ her side. "So beautiful." He purrs, stroking her soft fur continuously. She is helpless against him. Her eyes meet his and he seems curious. Not dangerous anymore, but she knows otherwise. The mask is still on, but she can tell certain emotions from his scent. He is curious, a little fearful and a little in awe, maybe because he had been the one to shoot down Clarke Griffin. She can also tell by his scent that he was a younger assassin; one who had merely been in training when she left. An assassin by the name of Kohl Dregg. It's obvious now that in her time away, he'd been promoted to field assassin with the rest.

Clarke continues to growl, but begins to pant as her breathing becomes laboured and her vision becomes blurred.

"Sh, now." He pulls the knife forward and presses it gently towards her throat. "It will be over soon Clarke. I promise. This body will be displayed for all to see. Don't worry, everyone will love you. I'm thinking of a full body, Clarke. You're too beautiful to simply keep only your head." Kohl is referring to having her stuffed and mounted on his wall, a trophy of the kill he has made.

Clarke whines because he's about to kill her and she is powerless. She will die and be mounted on this assassin's wall, glass eyes replacing hers, her body frozen in some terrifying form forever. A trophy of his kill. She is not going to give up. She is not going to let him soothe her into death. She has a pack to save, friends to go home to.

Clarke finds the energy to whip her teeth out and tear through the assassin's arm. Her razor sharp canines rip the flesh and the iron fills her mouth. She realizes he is not all shifter and that frightens her. But she focuses on the bite, on ripping his arm to shreds. He screams, alerting the other assassins to their presence. She needs to leave, needs to leave now.

Clarke releases her bite and drags her legs forward, panting the entire way. She is able to make it a few metres before collapsing and nearly screaming from the pain. Her vision is growing dark and she knows she doesn't have much time left. Knows she will die alone, before she could rescue her pack. She would see her father again and that in itself was a minor relief.

Clarke hears more human screams, sounding from the same assassin, but Clarke can't turn her head to see what is happening, she's simply too weak. She can't really contemplate what exactly is making the assassin scream. Doesn't think she has the energy to care.

And then she's being lifted and carried by secure arms. She recognizes the scent surrounding her. Knows she's safe for now. Knows she won't die alone. The thought of having someone with her to hold her hand and whisper good things in her ear as she fades comforts her deep in her core. Maybe she won't be as scared to die now that someone will be with her when she does.

"You need to hold on princess," Bellamy holds her tightly against his chest as he runs away from the hunters, putting as much distance between them as he can. And Clarke doesn't need to protect her identity anymore, not that she had any need to, each assassin knew her by scent. She can't stay a wolf any longer anyway and shifts in his arms to the smaller, frailer girl. Her body is covered in blood, her skin paler than normal, her hair limp against her back, her head lolling to the side because she can't hold it up anymore.

"Bell-am-y." Clarke whispers. "How?"

"Not, now. Save your breath." Bellamy commands and she quiets, relaxing as much as she can in his arms. But as she relaxes, she feels sleepy and tired and knows she just needs to close her eyes. Needs to enter the darkness because she is so tired and sore. The darkness beckons to her as it's long tendrils wrap around her body and mind. It's so peaceful and quiet where those arms gently caress her chilling body.

"Hey, open those eyes Clarke!" Bellamy gently jerks her, but she can't move. Clarke feels his pace slow until he has stopped completely and sets her gently on the ground. He is above her, one hand on either side of her face. "Wake up. You need to keep those eyes open. Don't fall asleep on me."

"Can't." Clarke mumbles, beginning to fall into the darkness she knows is about to claim her. Some part of her whispers to fight, but it is so meek and distant while the darkness lingers closer every passing second calling to her with its calm and gentle embrace.

"Yes you can." Bellamy sounds desperate and Clarke wants to help him, but she's so tired. Maybe it would be easier to just fall into the oblivion. The darkness is willing to offer her the peace and safety she has craved her entire life. The temptation to fall and fade into memory grips her mind.

"Stay with me. C'mon Clarke, you're stronger than this." Bellamy gently jerks her shoulders, but she barely feels it. She does feel it when he pulls her up to a sitting position against his chest. She does feel his breaths faintly beside her ear. She can feel the warmth of his skin against her back. God she's cold. She hadn't really realized just how cold she had been growing as the seconds ticked by and her senses tricked her into submitting.

"I'm trying." Clarke answers, but she can't understand herself and doesn't expect Bellamy to either. "Raven?"

"I'm sure she's on her way princess. Stay with me until then." Bellamy knows of the blood bond between Raven and Clarke, knows Raven can feel Clarke's pain and has an internal locator to find her. They both just need to wait until she gets here for Clarke to get some much needed pack blood.

While they wait, Bellamy holds her close, pressed against him and she thinks she could like this, just being held. Dying in the arms of someone she's begun to care for, begun to start over with. But then she feels sad. She wouldn't ever feel this again. Wouldn't see Raven laugh or Bellamy smirk, or Murphy roll his eyes. She'd never rescue her pack and they would never be free.

"Good." Clarke doesn't want to die. She needs to hold on. God she needs to hold on. Her friends need her. She can't be selfish. Not right now. She fights against the tendrils of darkness that have wrapped around her being. The peace it had been sending her way previously is replaced with sharp jerking, attempting to pull her down once more. Mentally she fights, but she is losing. The darkness is winning. She will fade soon and no one will be able to stop it.

"Hey, open your eyes." Bellamy gently shakes her. She hadn't even realized her eyes were closing again. "Clarke, you need to drink my blood."

Clarke can't form words any more, but manages to shake her head. Bellamy's blood wouldn't work on her. He didn't have the blood of her pack hence it would make no difference. Raven would be here, hopefully soon. Bellamy said she was coming and she would get here soon. Besides a bite almost seemed too intimate between them. Two alphas sharing blood… That was sacred and meant for mates. His blood wouldn't work because two alphas had to be running the pack together, united by a ceremony, joint as a team in order for there to be a conjoined pack. Bellamy and Clarke weren't a pack, not yet, maybe not ever. They were two alphas working together to save their packs. Maybe they were a team, but they weren't officially part of the same pack. Clarke couldn't heal from his blood for this reason and she couldn't let him drain himself dry trying to save her life. Not when her life was worth so little. She was a coward and a fool. She didn't deserve to live free while her friends, more innocent and deserving than her, remained locked up.

"Raven's not going to get here in time Clarke." Bellamy protests and grimaces as he continues to see the blood exiting her wounds, not ceasing. She catches his eyes briefly and the fear she sees there scares her.

She is going to die.

She is going to die in a friend's arms, more than she could ask for, much less deserved. Bellamy had been a thorn in her side but somehow through each argument they shared, she had somehow grown to care for him. She realizes that he is much more than she had originally thought. She would die and he would take in her friends as his own. She would die and he would take her place in the fight against her mother.

She slowly forms a small smile as she realizes that he would take care of them for her.

"Why are you smiling?" Bellamy's voice is strained and Clarke swears that she sees a tear run down his cheek. What is he feeling right now?

"Not pack blood," Clarke whispers so faintly she is afraid he cannot hear her. "But you'll take care of them." Clarke could die knowing some form of peace in her being. Her pack would be protected and fought for even as she faded.

"I would never leave your pack behind in that awful place and I will always offer my protection to our friends." _Our friends._ He saw them as his as I saw them as mine. It touched my heart how close we had all grown over the course of such a short time.

"I will not abandon them Clarke. I won't abandon you." Bellamy continues to argue with a new fire behind his eyes. "I'm not going to wait for you to bleed out. Sorry Clarke, but we still need you alive. I still need you alive."

Bellamy tears his wrist open and forces Clarke's mouth open to receive it. Clarke chokes on the blood seeping into her mouth, tastes the strong iron. Though she can hardly keep her eyes open, she manages somehow to swallow down the blood filling her mouth. As she swallows, she feels nothing happening. Clarke waits for Bellamy to pull his wrist away from her mouth as he recognises that it isn't working. The blood keeps flowing. Panic flickers in Clarke's mind. She knows that if Bellamy doesn't stop soon he'll lose too much blood. He will be too weak himself to keep himself awake, let alone her. The blood isn't working, but Bellamy continues to hold his wrist to her mouth and she keeps trying to swallow it down, but she is weak. She knew it wouldn't work. Why couldn't Bellamy understand that too?

She hears Raven, maybe hallucinates her voice. "Oh my God Clarke!" Raven skids to the ground beside the couple, her hands reaching to touch Clarke, to feel her alpha. As Clarke feels those warm hands press against her forearms, she knows she is real.

Bellamy pulls his wrist away and Clarke sinks back against him, a few drops of blood rolling down her chin. Now Raven is here and she can get some pack blood, but Bellamy isn't pulling Raven forward and Raven isn't pressing her wrist to Clarke's mouth.

It isn't like she predicted.

Moments later, Clarke is beginning to heal. She feels her wounds beginning to close and knot back together. She feels the blood beginning to replenish throughout her body. Her heartbeat picks up and returns to a normal pace. Her pain is disappearing, leaving behind the blood on her clothes. Her mind grows less distant and faded and she gasps, sitting up straight, her eyes wide open. Clarke takes in a deep breath and lets it out. She was almost dead… She had almost given in. Those thoughts linger in her mind for minutes following. She's still in slight shock that his blood had worked and she is now sitting up on her own where minutes ago she had almost fully faded away. It will be a few hours before Clarke will heal fully, even with blood, maybe longer because Bellamy wasn't legitimately her pack member.

Raven is staring shocked at her, a few tears rolling down her cheeks.

"It worked." Clarke is shocked. It was a fluke. They hadn't joined their packs. That involved a ceremony, almost like a wedding. It had to be a fluke. There was no way his blood should have healed her. Not unless –

"I knew it would princess. You just need to have a little bit of faith in me." Bellamy smirks, but he looks paler than normal, his voice sounding more exhausted than it had ever sounded before. They all need to leave before the assassins find them. Bellamy had waited with Clarke for too long. He should have left her, just as she had left her pack.

"We need to leave, those assassin's will be back." Raven says, as Bellamy gently helps Clarke to her feet because she is still not fully healed. Clarke is grateful Bellamy's blood healed her, but she can't help but wonder why? They were both alphas sure and they had come to see this pack as one pack and not two, but they had not joined their packs. That would involve a bonding ceremony between the two and well, Clarke wasn't interested in bonding to anyone currently. But perhaps nature had wanted Clarke to survive and so she was saved by Bellamy's blood whom it believed to be close enough to an official pack member. Maybe nature knew something she herself didn't and was begging her to open her eyes.


	10. Chapter 10

Part 10

*Bellamy's POV*

Bellamy gently rests his arm around Clarke's waist. It's obvious she is still in pain and will need some time to heal. The crimson blood that had once been seeping out of her body has begun to clot. Her clothing is absolutely ruined though, due to the wet blood covering almost her entire shirt and trickling down to her pants. No amount of pack blood would heal any wound immediately, but she was safe from dying for now, unless those assassins came back. They obviously wanted Clarke and now that Bellamy had injured or maybe killed the one attacking her, they would likely be vengeful. They couldn't take any risks right now. They would need to hide the scent trail back to the house and possibly move locations for a little while. He had to keep the pack safe. He had to keep Clarke safe.

"What the Hell were you thinking Clarke?" Bellamy wants to yell, but he can't so he settles for a harsh whisper. They need to remain quiet and no matter how frustrated he is with her, he can't give away their location.

"I couldn't let them get you or find anyone else. They just want me Bellamy. They're here for me. I was trying to lead them away and-"

"And get yourself killed?" He's furious. How dare Clarke think she could sacrifice herself for him, for their pack. How dare she think for a second that she should lead them away, and that she should die for them. What ran through her mind to think she was worth so little?

"Bellamy, really. It was my choice. You don't know these men Bellamy. You don't know what they're capable of. They'll kill you all just to hurt me." Clarke says, clearly pleading with him. Something flickers in her eyes; true absolute fear.

"Clarke I don't really care. Just don't ever do that again. From now on we face this together. Got it?" Bellamy won't let her risk getting herself killed again, not without back-up. He can't lose another member of this pack. He refuses to lose anyone else. Here he had just begun to smile again and laugh again. He wouldn't let anyone take away the girl who had begun to make him dream again.

"Okay." Clarke grumbles with a grimace and they slide into a comfortable silence. Normally she refused to give in. Her easy surrender shows him just how tired and weak she is. He needs to get her home.

Clarke grimaces again and a small whine escapes her lips. She tenses at his side and lets out a slow breath before moving on again. Clarke shouldn't be in this much pain, not right now. She'd gotten pack blood and while the worst parts would have been slowly knitting themselves back together, due to the endorphins within the blood, her pain should be minimal. A body beginning to stitch itself up was somewhat painful, but not like this.

"Clarke?" Bellamy looks down at her, at the girl sheltered by his body, his strength. "Are you still in a lot of pain? I'm sure Raven can give you some more blood."

"I'm fine," Clarke grits her teeth, but catches Bellamy looking at her. "Really, it's just the bullet is still lodged in my shoulder. The other went clean through my abdomen, but the one in my shoulder stings a bit. It can wait though."

"You've had a bullet in your shoulder this entire time and you didn't say anything? Clarke, that bullet is silver, it could slowly be killing you." Bellamy is surprised she'd lasted so long. Silver was a vicious weapon used against their kind. It burned the flesh until nothing remained. And here she had been walking the last ten minutes with silver inside her shoulder, not informing them. The pain she must be in, how she was holding it together for them… They needed to get it out. Sooner than later before true damage could be done. God how could she not have told him? He should have looked her over better. Should have taken the time to make sure she was healing properly before they had left.

"Bellamy, I'm fine. I'll last until I get to the house. Stop nagging or I'll bite you." Clarke snaps, but he knows it's because she is in pain. He can't imagine it, can't imagine how she's coping right now. Why hadn't she told him? Didn't she know he cared? Fury rips through him briefly because of the pain she is in. But he shakes his head in order to clear his thoughts. Where had that come from?

"Raven, can you take her?" Bellamy knows that they are within a few hundred feet of the house now and he can't waste any more time by helping them into the house. Some part of Bellamy screams at him to stay and ensure that Clarke was taken care of and safe and protected; His wolf. Why was his wolf so desperate? He needs to find his sister more than he needs to stay and defend Clarke when she clearly has friends here who are more than willing to keep her safe while he is out. He wants– no needs– to make sure Octavia is safe. Bellamy doesn't know what the assassins being here will mean for the pack. He isn't sure how long it would be before thy found them and attacked again.

The wolf growls low in the back of his mind. It wants to stay and make sure Clarke heals, make sure she rests, but he cannot let it win. He couldn't let the beast take over his mind when all it screamed was to _protect, defend, fight for_ Clarke. He chose her first and now he had to choose his sister. Clarke would be in capable hands. Thus he shoves that predatory nature down deep.

Raven nods and Bellamy carefully slips Clarke's arm over Raven's shoulder. Before this week, Bellamy would have never let someone come before his sister, never turned around to rescue some girl who he had thought he despised. His sister had always come first, but today, the moment he'd found Clarke gone, had known she had led those assassins away, he had known there was no way in Hell he could leave her there. He had to rescue _her_ first. It was because she had been in immediate danger he told himself. Deep behind closed doors, his wolf snickers. Octavia knew how to keep safe and they hadn't found or sniffed out another body so that meant that Bellamy could spare the time to go after Clarke. But what Bellamy was realizing in this current moment is that not once since he had discovered Clarke gone had he once thought about Octavia.

Bellamy found himself growing fond of this girl who had been thrust in his life again. He prayed that he never had to choose between saving Octavia or Clarke, because honestly, he didn't know who he'd pick. Bellamy had always been a brother first and pack leader second, but in this moment he realizes that he had pushed the brother aside in that moment and had let the wolf take him. The thought scared the man in him, but warmed the wolf who purred in response.

"Where are you going?" Clarke asks, turning to face him as he turns to walk away.

"I've got to find Octavia. Once I find her then I'll need to go find Miller and Monroe and Atom who're still unaccounted for. I'll be back as soon as I find them." Bellamy watches the concern in Clarke's gaze grow. He wants to comfort her, to tell her he'll be fine, that this is something he has to do because he is the alpha and this is his pack. But with her looking at him like that, the wolf shatters the restraints placed upon it and pushes to the forefront of his mind. With the wolf gaining control, he once more doesn't want to go.

"Bellamy, I can come too. You'll need help." Clarke shrugs out of Raven's arm and slowly makes her way towards him. Clarke is injured and she needs to heal. There's no way he's letting her come with him. The wolf agrees on this. _Keep her safe_ , it barks.

"No, you need to stay with Raven. I can't be out looking and worrying about my sister, when I'm stuck worrying about you too. Just go inside and keep on the lookout. When I find the rest of our pack, I'll send them home. We can deal with Roma's death tomorrow." Bellamy feels the grief swell through him like a flood. He hadn't lost a pack member before, had never had to deal with such grief aside from when he found out his mother had been killed. Roma had been his responsibility and he had failed her. Failed the pack and now more than ever he had to find the others. He couldn't fail them too.

"Okay." Clarke submits which he finds odd, but he goes with it. The wolf finally relents as he clenches his hands. She would be safe while he left and that is all the wolf truly wanted. He doesn't have time to understand why, when not so long ago he had been the one who wanted to kill her.

Bellamy watches Raven help Clarke towards the house with a brief longing before he shifts back and begins to prowl, hoping to find his sister's scent. He begins to pray she has not been lost to one of those assassins, knowing somewhere in his heart that he couldn't be too late.

*Clarke's POV*

Raven slowly walks with Clarke back to the house. Clarke is grateful for her friend, but she can't help but worry about her partner out there. She finds herself looking back, wishing she could help, but she is defeated. She is injured and she cannot gain the energy she would need to help. It's like Bellamy said, she's basically a liability. So she'll do as he asked of her. She'll rest at the house by packing everyone up and getting ready to move the moment Bellamy returns with everyone.

"The moment we get to the house, we're getting that bullet out." It's not a question but a command from Clarke's second. Her wolf bristles at the tone the beta has used, but Clarke shoves it aside. Raven means no disrespect or harm.

"Okay Raven." Clarke agrees. There's little she can do to argue. She's exhausted, both physically and mentally. She hadn't liked Roma, but she was dead now. Just dead, like that. That could have been Clarke tonight if Bellamy hadn't stepped in. She owed him her life.

"Are you okay? You smell off." Which was basically Raven's way of saying she smelt upset, worried, injured, etc. Raven wasn't one to spare feelings, and now that she was, worried Clarke. What exactly was Raven smelling on her to spare Clarke with the details?

"I'll be okay as soon as we get our pack back." Clarke sighs, but Raven doesn't let up. She stares her down with a 'come on, that's not the whole story and you know it' look. "Alright, I wasn't expecting mom's assassins to find us. Not yet, maybe not ever which was naïve of me. It just seems like I screwed up somehow, more than I already have. I abandoned all of you and yet somehow you till look to me as your friend. I left all of you to her torments and not once did I try to go back and get you. Two whole months I went unnoticed and then all in one night Finn and Octavia find me. Then you and Miller find the people who just so happened to find me. And now the assassins found us here and Roma is dead. I did something wrong to attract their attention. It's all my fault that they're here. It's all my fault that Roma is dead. I felt it Raven, as they began to reach the forest and yet some part of me said that it wasn't real because we were safe. So I didn't say anything, not to Bellamy, not to you. Somehow they found us and we are all going to die because I was stupid and scared. I haven't been the alpha I should have been to all of you and tonight I was trying to make up for it by leading them away to spare all of you. I just don't deserve any of this. Not your love, your friendships, not the kindness you still give to me. I don't deserve to be an alpha because I am a worthless coward who threw her pack to the wolves the first chance she got to escape. I have failed all of you on so many levels. I should have fought harder to get you all out sooner. I shouldn't have given in and submitted to her. I knew what was happening to all of you and I couldn't stop it. And now because of me, not one of our friends will taste true freedom ever again."

"Stop it Clarke. I've known you since we were pups. You didn't screw up. The times simply caught up with you. Fate has a funny way of letting you think one thing and then doing the exact opposite. It was about time the trackers caught up. I'm just surprised Finn waited so long before helping them to us." Raven trails off and Clarke squeezes her arm gently. "I know it feels like it's your fault Clarke, but it's not. You can't blame all of this on yourself. We all played our parts. You think that by running away you left us all to perish trapped behind those walls? You gave us inspiration Clarke. The moment we found out you had left, we knew we could too. We knew we could find the courage to fight back because our alpha had and she has escaped. If you hadn't run and escaped, those of us who managed to escape her would still be locked up. We would still be starving, petrified and imprisoned. I can't speak for everyone else, but you leaving helped to start a rebellion within her walls and now she knows that she doesn't have complete control over everyone. She knows that her prisoners can and will fight against her. Nothing you could ever do would make me hate you Clarke. I'm sure the others feel similarly. When you abandoned us, you gave many of us hope and for that I will be forever grateful."

With the confession Raven makes, Clarke vows that never again would she abandon her pack. She would fight and die for them to be free. She would earn all of their trust again and become the leader her father knew she could be. She is still frightened of what lies ahead, but she isn't going to run. She is going to stay and fight until she can fight no more because it is her duty. She is always going to think that everything was her fault, but she would try to grow from it.

"Clarke, you were my friend before you ever became my alpha. My alpha may have failed us, but my friend never did. She is the one who fought for me so many times. She is the one who took ten lashes for trying to be brave. For everything you have ever done for us, you are allowed to make mistakes. We were all brainwashed by her Clarke. We all feared her Clarke. If I could have run and escaped, if my mind hadn't been so altered in submission and fear, I would have run too and I would have never looked back. If I was here by myself I wouldn't go back. I don't think I could. But I'm not alone. I have you. With you, I will face the world because I know we can. You don't think that we are free, but I have never been so free. I'm petrified she will find us and now she has, but for so long my mind hasn't belonged to me and now it does. I may be on the run with you, but I have tasted the most wonderful freedom the past few weeks. Even if this is what I endure for the rest of my life, I will be happy and grateful that while you escaped you still decided to fight for us. Maybe not in the beginning, but now. You are not a coward Clarke, you are far from it. You led those assassins away from us and you were willing to sacrifice yourself to save those of us who gained our freedom. You can't save everyone Clarke, but I know that you're going to try and that makes me want you as my alpha."

Clarke is speechless. Her best friend didn't hate her for leaving. She wanted Clarke to lead them because for some reason Raven believed in her. Clarke didn't believe in herself and she wasn't sure why Raven did. That trust in Raven's eyes, not because she was bonded to her, but because she believed in her cracked something within Clarke's soul.

"I failed all of you and I'm so sorry. I don't deserve any of your kind words. I may fail you again, but not because I'm going to run. Somehow I swear I will fight for the freedom of everyone. I promise Raven, I won't leave you behind ever again. I won't leave any of you behind." Clarke believes every word she utters, but she is still a coward. She knows she doesn't deserve these people, but she will fight for them anyway. She will fight in order to find a way to deserve their love, their hope, their belief in her. She's not going to give up. Maybe her soul isn't completely shattered from the years of damage done to it. Maybe her soul is beginning to heal.

"Maybe there's still hope for Finn. Maybe we can still bring him around." Clarke moves back to the brief subject of Finn. She is hopeful that maybe he can be brought around. Maybe she's still too naïve to believe it.

"He's gone for good Clarke. He tried to take you back. He didn't try to join us here. He led the assassins to our doorstep. He can't be saved Clarke. We're too late for that." Raven opens the front door to the house and they walk in through the dark hallway towards the kitchen. Both ignore the anxious Fox waiting for the pair to return, ignore the scared look the young Charlotte has on her face as she takes in the blood. They also ignore the prodding look Murphy has plastered on his face as he stands in the corner.

"Raven…" Clarke can't let her friend lose some of that hope she'd just told her about right before her eyes.

"No Clarke. You know I'm right. Just don't. Okay? It's hard enough. Let's just get that bullet out." Raven shrugs Clarke off of her gently, pressing her down onto the kitchen chair. Clarke worries the hope, courage and love each of them had somehow been able to find would dwindle and run out by the time this battle was through.

*Octavia's POV*

Octavia has yet to figure out who her captor is, but he brought her to a little cabin in the woods. A tiny cabin made of the wood from this forest. Octavia could smell the man's scent all over the property. His scent which was human, but off in a way that he smelled not quite all human. She couldn't describe why let alone figure out what it meant.

Octavia takes in her surroundings. They've walked for about fifty minutes, away from those men on horseback, away from her brother and Clarke. They've walking into a part of the woods where she's never been before and yet somehow she feels safe, and feels oddly free.

"What's your name?" Octavia asks the man again. She has asked him question after question but he seems to just brush them off. His face is frozen in some permanent scowl, like he didn't want to have to rescue her but he had anyway.

Octavia sighs as he opens the door to the cabin and he brings her inside. There isn't much inside. Some light furniture and maybe a picture or two. He obviously doesn't like to decorate. Or he doesn't want anyone to know anything about him. It was working for Octavia. She couldn't tell anything about this guy other than he was a neat freak. Bellamy could learn a thing or two from him. Oh God, Bellamy… He had to be alright. He could take care of himself. And Clarke was there. She would help keep him safe. Octavia prayed to whatever Gods were listening that nothing bad would happen to the only family she had left.

The stranger sets her down on the sofa and raises his hand as if to tell her to stay. He hadn't spoken another word to her since he pulled her away from the path of the riders. Hadn't given any indication of just whose side he belonged to. Octavia had to hope it was her side. He wanted to help her and he had pulled her out of the way from those riders. He couldn't be that bad, right?

"Drink." The very tall, very built man comes back into the room with a glass of clear liquid. He crouches in front of her and Octavia feels small. She's never felt small, never really felt backed into a corner. But right now she does, but it's not a bad kind of feeling. She feels something. Something that tells her she can trust him not to poison her or hand her over to those riders.

Octavia accepts the glass and takes a big gulp, noticing it is just water. It is a much needed glass of water. She hasn't realized how dry her mouth is and how exhausted she really is. And then she screams because it burns as it goes down her throat and settles in her stomach.

"Don't scream. It's bayberry water, it will help burn out the infection." The man presses a hand onto her thigh and she nods quickly, trying to fight off the burning. She knows it isn't actually burning away her throat, but it feels like it is. "You're kind are more susceptible to bayberry burning. It will help though, I promise."

"Okay." Octavia nods as the burning begins to cease.

"This will also burn, but you need to keep quiet. If you scream the riders will find us here." The message is clear to Octavia. She bites down her teeth as the man gently pulls her shirt from her shoulder. Octavia watches as he pulls out a bottle of vodka and begins to pour it over her open wound. She grits her teeth hard and stifles her scream. She thought her throat had burned, but that had been nothing compared to this.

It is a few minutes of drying the area around her open flesh before he begins to stitch the wound closed. Gauze is placed over it and he offers her the couch for the night which she would gladly accept if she wasn't deathly worried about her brother.

"I need to leave." Octavia presses as the tattooed man shakes his head again. "My brother is in danger and I need to make sure my family is safe."

"It's still too dangerous." His arms are folded across his chest and he stands intimidatingly in her way. He's blocking the door which appears to be her only exit. Octavia had never really liked it when someone told her what to do.

"Look if my brother finds me here, he'll hurt you. You just patched up my arm, I can't just let him tear yours off for keeping me here." Now Octavia hasn't ever backed down from a fight and well this is no different. "You can walk me if you want, but I promise I can take care of myself. I have friends I need to check on. Friends I need to warn. I may be safe now, but my friends aren't. You seem to understand I'm not human, so you must understand that these friends are special and I won't abandon them."

"I know. I've seen how protective you are of them and them of you." He nods.

"You've been watching me." Octavia says it as a fact and she's somehow not surprised. She's felt a presence hovering before but hasn't ever really thought of it as anything more than a safe manifestation.

"Yes. I've tried to keep you safe, but it's getting harder. There are a great deal of enemies waiting at your front door. Those riders are only the first." His voice contains a warning, but she doesn't listen.

"How do you know that?" Octavia steps forward and accesses him with her eyes. Looking into him and trying to find out what she can about his heart and soul. He seems good, seems to be helping her pack out, but anyone can be a deceiver.

"I've been keeping tabs on your pack. No more questions, you need to rest." The man is still blocking her path and she refuses to back down. She had been locked up before. For years she had never been able to taste the fresh air or feel her paws on the grass that encompassed the land around her home. She will never again let anyone lock her up.

"No." Octavia defiantly steps forward again and raises her chin to meet his chocolate eyed gaze.

The man sighs and then steps out of the way and motions for her to leave. She eyes him cautiously. Is this a trick, or is he going to let her leave?

"Thank you," She manages to say as she walks past him. "Stranger."

"Lincoln," Lincoln answers her with a grin in his eyes.

"Lincoln." Octavia smiles before jumping forward and landing on all fours. She turns her golden eyes back to face him and he merely looks at her, almost adoringly she would say. But she can't stay. She has a pack to warn, a brother to ensure is safe and a future to look to. But maybe she can come back. Maybe she'll see this stranger again.

*Bellamy's POV*

It feels like hours have passed while looking for his sister, but it hasn't begun to get fully dark yet. The shadows are beginning to fall, but not all the way. He has time to find her. Has to find her. From what he can tell, the assassins are nowhere to be seen and he can't hear them hunting in the distance, but he isn't taking any chances.

Luckily, he's caught his sister's scent, and is following the trail she left not too long ago. He swears if he finds her injured someone is going to die.

The forest quiets with the hunt of the predator.

Bellamy freezes. Could the assassins be back? He doesn't hear them, but the forest has gone quiet, not deathly quiet like before, but quiet. Something is definitely hunting or prowling in these woods.

" _Bellamy!"_ Octavia screams as she rushes out of the shadows to his side and rolls onto her back licking his muzzle and wagging her tail. She had been the predator the woods had been hiding from. Not the assassins.

" _Octavia, you nearly gave me a heart attack. Where have you been?"_ Bellamy doesn't mean to shout, but he's been worried sick about his little sister. Worried something has happened, that he wouldn't make it in time to save her.

" _Those riders, they separated Atom and I. I got chased off and I was hiding until I felt safe. Can we just go home Bell? Please. I'm not exactly in the mood for an interrogation right now. Can we save it for tomorrow?"_ Octavia is up on her feet again and presses against Bellamy's side. Bellamy simply breathes in his sister's scent. Alive. Unharmed. Safe.

His sister is safe and he has protected one more of his own. He hasn't failed his sister.

" _I'm going to take you home, but I've got to head out again. Atom is still missing. Miller and Monroe were out with Roma and they haven't come back yet either. I've got to find them, but I need to know you're safe with the pack."_ Bellamy begins to tell Octavia everything he's found out, everything that has transpired that night. The walk back is shrouded in mourning for Roma. Bellamy is furious that his sister has witnessed her die. Had witnessed the murder of a pack member. Octavia would probably have nightmares and that angered Bellamy. There was only so much he could protect her from and that was supposed to be one, but he had failed.

" _Stop it Bellamy,"_ Octavia says as they reach the house.

" _What?"_ Bellamy asks. He's tired. Exhausted. Emotionally drained.

" _You're brooding. You can't protect me from everything big brother. Sometimes things happen. I'll get over it."_ The glint in Octavia's eyes tells him that she is okay, but it's his job to keep her safe. He had sworn to his mother he would keep her safe.

" _That's not the point, O."_

" _No, but I'll be alright. There are bigger fish to fry. I'll be okay Bellamy. From the sounds of things, Clarke is who needs you right now. You're her co-leader. You need to discuss things with her. Figure out our next step. I'm going to wait for Atom to come back. They'll be fine Bellamy."_ Octavia gently presses her wet nose to his side and gives his ear a light lick. She saunters ahead of him and shifts back into her human form before entering the house.

Was his sister really going to be fine? Bellamy didn't know if _he_ was going to be fine. This was a lot for a twenty three year old to deal with. He couldn't imagine how the rest of the pack felt. Only about half of them had even reached eighteen. How were they coping? Maybe they weren't and he was about to experience a major break down within some of his pack mates.

When Bellamy opens the door, a calm washes over him. It seems Clarke has managed the pack in his absence. Murphy briefly looks at Bellamy, grumbles and goes back to doing whatever he was doing.

"What's going on?" Bellamy walks toward Fox who is packing food into a bag, but she is shaking.

"Don't sneak up on me." Fox jumps. "We're leaving. Right now. As soon as you-you came back. I didn't want to wait, but it's s-safer in a b-big pack. But you're here and we can leave." Fox drops the bag of whatever she was holding because she is shaking so much.

"Hey, are you okay?" Bellamy asks, pressing a hand on top of the hand that dropped the bag.

"No. No I'm not fine. The assassins found us. We-we're going to d-die. A-all of us." Fox begins to uncontrollably shake and Bellamy is worried she's going to have a full on panic attack or seizure or something.

"Breathe Fox!" Clarke's voice shouts through to the poor girl who jumps and takes a deep breath. A direct command from her alpha has the poor girl shaking less and breathing more. Colour is returning to her face and she is trembling less. "There, not so hard. No reason to freak out before we need to."

"Clarke? You need to be resting." Bellamy leaves the younger girl's side and races over to Clarke's. She is hunched over holding her injured abdomen. "What are you doing out of bed? You can't heal if you don't lie down."

"I'm not lying down Blake. Alphas don't rest while the pack is in danger. I'm fine. I'll live. I'm not whining, so don't you start." Bellamy backs off a bit. She is clearly alright mentally. She's taking charge. Clarke must be the person who takes charge in situations where everyone needs a leader. He can sense it. He feels her holding off her panic by bossing everyone around and getting everything done. "Look, if I stop, I'll panic. If I panic everyone else will panic. Just let me work."

"Okay princess. But you're going to hold on to my shoulder and let me help you, got it?" Clarke nods and Bellamy is somewhat satisfied. He looks her over and notices she's not quite as pale as when he had left. That's good. Her scent is strong and overwhelming him as he walks with her to the next room where she yells at Murphy about packing the essentials not his comic books. Of course he whines, but she is able to put him in his place. Surprisingly, his wolf has been quiet.

"Bellamy, we're leaving this place. We're not safe here anymore." Clarke braces herself, probably for the fight she believes he's about to put up. But he isn't going to put up a fight. He's experienced what these assassins do. He doesn't want to be near them ever again and understands they need to leave if they wish to live through the next few days.

"Okay. Your house I presume?" Bellamy squeezes her side a little too tight and she winces. "Sorry."

"It's okay. And yes. If we can get out of here and to that house then we'll be in the clear for a little while. We can establish ourselves there." Clarke holds onto Bellamy and he feels relief. She feels safe with him. He feels safe with her. His wolf begins barking up a storm claiming that he needs to keep holding her that way and Bellamy shakes his head. He needs to focus. His wolf was not in control of him. He was in control of himself. He would not fall prey to the instincts deep within his bones insisting that he was an alpha who should choose a mate, preferably the alpha female in his arms.

"What about our missing pack members. We're not leaving without them." A low rumble echoes in Bellamy's chest as worry begins to bloom for the missing few.

"Ahead of you Blake. Again." Clarke smirks, taunting him. At least she can still smile through this. Then again, this is what she and her pack have been dealing with for years now. He's sure that when she told him the stories behind some of her physical scars that she had left out the stories behind the unseen scars. He hopes that one day she will be able to talk to him about everything that had happened to her. He knew her stories were horrific if the shadows in her eyes were any indication. Even with everything that had happened to her she could somehow find a way to smile. This alone gives Bellamy a reason to smile back. "Everyone here is busy packing up the essentials. We're waiting for Miller, Monroe and Atom. Once they get back, we leave. If they don't come back, we go search for them. I've set a time limit; there's five hours left. Then we go search for them."

"Good thinking. What can I do to help?" Bellamy asks, concerned that Clarke will wear herself out before they can leave. As much as his wolf wants him to protect her she still has to be able to protect herself.

"Just continue to help hold me up and we'll be fine." Clarke manages as she sighs and leans into his shoulder. Bellamy's heart skips a beat in that moment.

"I can do that." Bellamy smiles lightly before helping Clarke forward to go yell at Wells. As much as he knew he couldn't kill the annoying beta, he was more than happy to watch Clarke rip into him. If Clarke's scowl was anything to go by, he was going to enjoy this.

"Wells, what are you doing? We all have to help out. I told you to call for a rental car. It's not that hard Wells." Clarke pinches the bridge of her nose, an indication of her utter annoyance. Bellamy had been on the receiving end of that gesture a great many times in the past days.

"No, what are _you_ doing Clarke? This is insane and you know it. We aren't safe right now. We shouldn't be waiting for the others. We've got to save ourselves if we have any hope of surviving." Bellamy growls low and stiffens. Clarke presses a light hand to his chest and he feels lighter. Letting out a breath he waits to see what Clarke is going to say.

"No Wells. We don't leave anyone behind. We're waiting for them. If you want to leave, be my guest. The door is right there." Clarke points to the front door. "But we," Clarke gestures to herself and Bellamy, "are going to save as many as we can Wells."

"Clarke, if we don't leave they will come right back. And who are they after, hm? You. If they find out you're here, you won't leave alive this time. Clarke I can't lose you after I just got you back. You've got to think about yourself. If they catch you, if they kill you, we're all next anyway. You need to listen to me Clarke." Wells steps forward, but Bellamy is right there growling.

"Stand down Bellamy." Clarke commands and attempts to pull him back. But Bellamy isn't interested in moving. This little punk needed to be taught a lesson. He needed to show some respect to his alpha. And Bellamy would love to be the one to show him what would happen when he didn't do just that.

"What's this?" Wells takes a step back, sniffs, then continues to look disgusted or something. "Bellamy's- Just don't. How could you Clarke? I thought– Never mind. Just remember that whatever happens now is on you Clarke."

"Back off Wells. I've made too many mistakes in the past few years for me to do anything but protect what I just regained. I abandoned everyone and I refuse to do it again. What is wrong with _you_ Wells to think they aren't worth saving?" Clarke looks as pissed off as Bellamy is feeling. He goes over what Wells had said. Bellamy is what? What was he going to say? What was Bellamy to Clarke that made Wells angry? Nothing but the way Bellamy's wolf pestered him felt any different between the two partners.

"It doesn't matter anymore. Good luck Bellamy. I've been there, in your position. She'll disappoint you in the end." Clarke once again tries to hold Bellamy back, but she fails. God he wants to tear out Wells tongue, but he settles for the right hook he swings into Wells jaw.

"Don't you dare disrespect either one of us. We are the alphas of this pack. I have had enough of you challenging my authority here. You can either choose right this very second whether you stay and your attitude changes or you leave and never step one foot into my territory again." Bellamy is bristling with rage. He was an alpha worthy of the respect all other alphas received. He hadn't been born an alpha, but he had earned the right to be one. He had fought for this position and he wouldn't let it go.

"Has she really gotten you so wrapped around her finger that you've become blind to what is happening?" Wells rubs his jaw and stands back onto his two feet from where he'd been knocked on his back by the force of Bellamy's strength. "They will kill everyone and all you're doing is leading them right to us."

Bellamy is near shifting now. _One more word_. He silently dared the male to say another word.

"Bellamy is my co-leader Wells. Something you never understood and will never understand. He has earned the right to be an alpha, blood born or not and deserves as much respect and authority as has been bestowed on me. Why you would think something else is going on, I don't know, but there isn't. Bellamy understands that to lead a pack you have to lead together. He respects my decisions and I respect his. That doesn't mean he's wrapped around my finger Wells. Just because you thought you'd become my mate doesn't mean it was ever going to happen. Just because you were blood born alpha material, doesn't mean you are ever going to be one." Wells thought he was going to become Clarke's mate? Wells was a blood born alpha? Well that explained more now. He was always possessive of Clarke and hounding on Bellamy, always trying to hover and make decisions for her. Bellamy would never do that to his mate, if ever he found one. He would become equal with her, in everything.

"I'm engaged Wells, and that engagement holds until I say otherwise. No male is going to come between it, not unless they make an offer better than that of Trikru. As for Bellamy, he makes his own decisions. If he feels that staying and waiting for everyone is what we should do, then that doesn't make him blind, it makes you blind for disagreeing. If you truly knew what it meant to be an alpha, you would understand that the pack comes first." Clarke's tone has changed into something of pure power and utter calm. The calm before the storm. Her eyes have begun to glow and the hand that holds his back has claws gently pressing into his shirt as if she too couldn't quite contain the wolf who was not to be questioned.

"Whatever you say Clarke." Wells mockingly bows and storms away.

Bellamy finally snaps and the shift quickly courses through his veins. The moment he puts a foot forward to chase down the defiant male, a gentle clawless hand presses cautiously on his shoulder. Bellamy lets out a breath and shifts back, trying to contain the fury coursing through his veins.

"If you don't do something about that, I will." Bellamy threatens. Clarke was an alpha and each wolf whether from her pack or not, needed to show her the respect that came with that title. Wells would be the first Bellamy would make fall in line if he decided to stay. Disrespect of either him or Clarke was no longer going to be tolerated.

"Enough Bellamy. We're all stressed right now. We say things we don't mean when we're stressed." Clarke sighs and shakes her head. "Now please help me upstairs. I need to check that Charlotte has packed the clothes."

Bellamy answers through gritted teeth. "Sure thing princess."

With Bellamy's rage beginning to simmer, he began to contemplate what the male had been saying. What had Wells meant to say to them before he stopped? Why had he been disgusted with their scents? Bellamy knew he wasn't wrapped around Clarke's finger, but it made him wonder. Since the blood sharing, he had been feeling off; more… possessive. More protective. His wolf had taken a bigger role in his head insisting that he–

Nothing had changed between them. Nothing. They were still just partners, maybe partners who cared if the other survived. Maybe they cared about one another as friends, but Bellamy didn't think anything had really changed.

Or had it?


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

*Clarke's POV*

It had been almost four hours now and still no Atom. Miller and Monroe had shown up almost an hour ago, both shaken, but unharmed and alive. Miller believed he had lost the assassins. He didn't say anything more than that before asking what he could do and getting right down to it. Monroe just kept quiet and stalked off somewhere. She couldn't worry about them too much at this moment because Atom was still missing. Where was he? Clarke was growing worried, but there wasn't much she could do. Bellamy wasn't about to let her go search for Atom and he refused to let anyone else go back out there. He had been insistent that for the last two hours she be resting because she needed to heal. She had fought him at every turn but had given in an hour ago. She couldn't sleep, but he wasn't letting her get out of the bed either.

"Stop it Clarke. I don't care if you aren't sleeping. Just lie there and rest." Bellamy blocks her attempts to sit up again. "Stop being so stubborn."

"I wouldn't be so stubborn if you just let me get up and get shit done. We've got a missing pack member and eight panicking ones. Wells wouldn't call to rent a car so I need to do that. Raven's in one of her moods so she needs some alone time and a piece of steak to bring her back. Charlotte is only twelve Bellamy, she needs a mother figure to hold her hand through this. Fox has never been one to do strong so she needs reassurance. Miller is a guard dog who needs to be given a job and Atom is missing. My pack need me Bellamy. They need stability." Clarke again tries to sit up because her pack needs her. She isn't in nearly as much pain as she had been because the silver bullet was gone and she was _healing_. She could easily work while healing. It's not like she was bleeding all over the place. Bellamy just couldn't understand that.

"No Clarke. They have an alpha who is injured. They need an alpha who is strong and _fully_ healed. Now shut up and lie down." Bellamy stares her down until she lets out an 'ugh' and flops onto her back wincing on her injured shoulder. Bellamy had been sitting on the edge of the bed in his room where he had placed her an hour ago under orders to rest or he'd make her rest. After the second time she'd tried to sneak out, he'd sat beside her and watched her every move.

"You're infuriating." Clarke growls, covering her eyes with her left hand. He was like an over protective bodyguard. Something she was unaccustomed to. Back home she had grown accustomed to jailors who kept her caged and tormented her relentlessly. She had learned through that to always keep fighting and to always get back up when pushed down. She wasn't used to sitting still and just letting things happen. She had almost always fought back and found a way to keep going.

"Yeah, so are you." Bellamy laughs. Clarke rolls her eyes and tries to get some sleep. God, she knows she'll need it to get through the next few days.

As much as she tries, Clarke doesn't sleep. She can't. She just thinks about the assassins. Thinks about how much time they have to move out. Thinks about Roma lying there, dead. Nothing left but the pink flesh beneath her gorgeous coat. Clarke couldn't help but think that if they didn't leave soon, they would all be next.

"What are you thinking about?" Bellamy gently asks.

"Roma, and how much time we've got before the assassins come back." Clarke saddens. She'd failed Roma. It had been her job to protect that girl, to protect each of these shifters. She'd failed again. Three deaths on her hands now. Blood she couldn't wash away. Blood stains that would continue to grow if they didn't go soon.

"It's not your fault Clarke. You couldn't have done anything. She was my responsibility and I didn't protect her. She's dead and there's nothing we can do for her now. Those assassins, we can do something about them. We can run Clarke. We can get away from them. So stop worrying about everyone else. Once we find Atom, we're out of here. We'll be starting over, growing stronger." Bellamy's chocolate eyes are watching her, keeping her in his line of sight. In this moment Clarke feels like he is peering into her soul.

"I'm sorry." Clarke says.

"Why?" Bellamy looks down at her with a confused expression.

"For Roma. I know you told me you didn't do the whole girlfriend thing, but I know you cared about her. That you still care about her." Clarke doesn't know how she'd react if someone she truly cared for, aside from her father, was been ripped apart and murdered. The last time she had wanted vengeance. Last time she thought she would shatter from it all. Last time she almost hadn't survived.

"I never loved her Clarke." Bellamy shakes his head and his determined gaze meets hers.

"I never said you did." The alarm goes off interrupting the pair and Clarke bounces up from the bed, growling as she rips open the wound just beginning to scab. "Dammit."

"Seriously Clarke?" Bellamy grumbles. "You're not going."

"What? I'm going to find Atom. I have to find him." Clarke presses her hand to the bleeding wound, all the while growling. Her canines were out and she would bite Bellamy if he stood in her way. She felt a fierce protectiveness when it came to any of her friends, her pack, her family. She wouldn't – No, she couldn't stand around and do nothing.

"No, you're going to see Raven and get that," Bellamy points to the blood seeping through Clarke's shirt, "cleaned up. Then we will go together and find Atom."

"You're actually compromising?" Clarke's in shock. Here was Bellamy Blake compromising with her. He'd never done that before. He'd just either fought her until she submitted or vice versa, yet here he was talking with her.

"I do that sometimes, but only when my partner actually listens to me. Remember I told you, together from here on out." Bellamy raises an eyebrow and reaches a hand out for Clarke to take. "C'mon, let's get that looked at."

Raven patches Clarke up with a warning that if she ripped these stitches Raven would bite a finger off. Clarke agrees and changes her shirt before she finds Bellamy and heads to the door.

"Clarke, I'm coming with you. It's not safe for you. You know what they're after." Miller appears in front of Clarke and the looks on his face is determined to say the least. "You need more protection and I'm not letting you leave until you agree." Clarke nods and the three head off into the dark woods. Each wolf can see in the dark, a special trait that came with being a shifter. They try to pick up a scent, but nothing is wafting towards them. Nothing yet.

Each is on high alert for the assassins, although Clarke knows they only like to hunt during the day. The game is too easy at night, when the prey is easy pickings. They're safe from them for now. But if they caught wind that Clarke was nearby… they might just change the rules of the game.

Miller is trailing behind Clarke while Bellamy has taken the lead. Neither is letting Clarke lead or fall behind. It's annoying, but she knows they are just trying to look out for her. Clarke isn't about to fight it. Not right now.

"What happened Miller?" Clarke asks as she falls in line beside him. She's curious how they'd been discovered and how he and Monroe had managed to escape.

"We were just patrolling and then I felt it. I felt Them. I knew we didn't have much time, so I told them to run. This wasn't their fight, but Monroe was stubborn. She insisted she'd be staying with me. She's a lot like you Clarke, in that regard." Clarke sheepishly looks away and Miller continues. "Roma was scared and she stuck close, but then I heard Them. Clarke I heard them and I panicked." Miller turns away from Clarke looking ashamed.

Clarke presses herself against Miller's side.

"When I felt Them, I did nothing. I knew it was Them and I didn't tell anyone. We all panicked Miller. We all froze. It can't be blamed. We knew what they are capable of, what them being here meant for us. If you're feeling guilty… then I'm just as guilty as you." Clarke gently whines beside Miller, staying pressed to his side. Miller had been her rock. Always the stable one, just there, always ready. She couldn't allow him to doubt himself, not right now. Not when things were so uncertain.

"Clarke…" Miller starts, but Clarke cuts him off. "No, Miller. We are equally guilty in this. Roma, she went out strong. She protected Octavia. We have to remember her as the strong shifter she was or her death was for nothing."

"That's just it Clarke. I always saw her as the horribly spoiled brat who liked to boss everyone around." Clarke had believed that exact same thing. "But then, once the riders found us, she led them off. Clarke she sacrificed herself so Monroe and I could get away."

Clarke's shocked. That was the last thing she would have thought Roma would do, but then everyone was full of surprises.

"We'll bury her with dignity. She'll be remembered Miller. I'll make sure of that." Clarke gently nips Miller's ear and walks ahead a bit, getting back on track to find Atom.

They still had time. The assassins had a thing about hunting in the darkness. It wasn't fun for them. The prey was too scared, too easy. They were safe for now as the sun was setting. And it was just beginning to dip below the horizon.

"Clarke, I've got it." Miller announces, pausing the group. He'd caught the scent, thank God, Clarke thinks.

For another half an hour, the group follows the trail left by Atom and it isn't good. Blood dots the ground, some drops are much larger than others. Clarke can't lose another member of her pack. She can't lose Atom. He was cocky and arrogant and never really listened, but he was her friend. He was part of her family.

"Clarke stop." Bellamy orders from his position in the lead. "Stay there."

"What?" Clarke asks, curious as to why Bellamy doesn't want her coming up there. She thinks it has something to do with the heavy scent of blood in the air. Oh God… it had to be Atom. He had to be what Bellamy had found. Clarke makes to rush forward and Miller stands in her way. She has half a mind to growl and fight him in order to get him to stand down.

"Not this time Clarke." Miller shakes his head, gold eyes meeting her own.

What had they found? Why wasn't she allowed to go see, go help? Clarke wasn't helpless, she could handle whatever it was. Bellamy had disappeared over the ridge where they had stopped and Clarke couldn't see him or what he had found. But Clarke could tell there was blood, a lot of blood. She could smell it.

"Miller, so help me." Clarke growls and stares him down, her gold eyes beginning to glow with her anger. She was the alpha and he was considered her third, but he had no right to stand in her way. "Let me by."

"Clarke, please don't." Miller is almost begging, but Clarke has to know, needs to know. She needs to know what has happened to Atom. Even if she finds his body, she needs to know what's happened. She'd never forgive herself for not looking.

Clarke pushes Miller aside and runs up the ridge and once she gets over she stops. Why had she wanted to see this? Why they done this? But she knows why. She knows they are monsters born and trained to be ruthless, merciless killers.

Clarke sees Bellamy is standing as a human in front of a tree. At the bottom of the tree is a puddle of blood, but that hasn't caught Clarke's attention. At the middle of the large oak tree, carved into the trunk is the word traitor. Just below it is Atom's wolf head nailed to the tree. His glassy, unseeing eyes staring into her soul. His tongue hanging slightly out of his mouth. His ears perked up in a challenge. His body is nowhere to be found. Probably taken by the hunters as some kind of trophy.

"NO!" Clarke screams and runs forward. She's never felt such anguish before. Never experienced such pain. Not since her father died and she had discovered the body. Never felt so helpless. It brings her back to that moment she'd found her father, scattered all around his study. The blood coating the walls and her hands as she tried to heal him. The hopeless heart ache she remembers taking over her mind. That desperate need to call for help, but no words able to form as her heart shattered and her scream echoed off each of the walls.

"Clarke!" Bellamy meets her half way and pulls her into his arms. She is sobbing into his chest. She can't control the shaking sobs taking over her body. She has lost him, she'd lost Atom. He'd been murdered by those she once called pack. He was never going to smirk at her again. Never going to challenge her. Never going to laugh at her bad jokes. He was never going to fall in love. Never going to grow up. Never going to experience the freedom she'd promised him. Never going to live.

"Clarke, Clarke come here." Bellamy wraps her up close, but she can't feel him, not really. She's growing numb. This is too much. She's back in her head once more. The sinking despair that she's not enough to save her pack, that she'll never be enough. She couldn't save him. She couldn't save her father. She couldn't save Del or Glass. She couldn't save Roma. She's losing too much. She can't even stand anymore as she crashes to the forest floor with Bellamy still attached. She can't breathe as she sobs and screams in anger and rage. This is too much loss for an eighteen year old in one night.

"Bellamy, we need to get her home. This was a trap. They were waiting for her. Bellamy we need to get Clarke out of here. We need to go now. Bellamy!" Miller rushes to the pair huddled on the forest ground, one clinging to the other, the other numbly beginning to lose their spark. That darkness caving in around her once more as she's sure she'll be lost in that labyrinth of hopelessness forever.

"Okay." Bellamy nods and Clarke just stares ahead. Stares at Atom's once beautiful soul. He'd been a wonderful companion, had been a beautiful wolf. Had been a good friend and now he was gone, just like that. Dead. And Clarke had failed again. She just kept failing. She just kept losing. All her life she been accustomed to winning and then her father died and she failed everyone. She couldn't save anyone. She couldn't even save herself from this pit. There's some part of her screaming to get up, to fight, to clutch on to that tiny spark of hope that remains. But that part of her is distant and her body is paralyzed while her mind battles against itself.

"Clarke, c'mon. We need to go." Bellamy is whispering something in her ear but she is numb. She is closing herself up. She can't go, she deserves to be caught. Deserves to die. This is all her fault, all her mess. They're dead because of her. She's a murderer. She hadn't said anything in time. Hadn't warned anyone. Her pack will never forgive her. Not for this. She can't be a good leader if she can't even protect her own mind. She can't protect anyone. She should step down and let the assassins have her. She deserved everything that was coming.

It was all her fault and she would carry the weight of it for eternity.

"Clarke!" Bellamy begins shaking her, but Clarke is trapped in her own mind.

"Carry her." Miller instructs, "or I will."

"I got her. Just watch my back." Bellamy says something, but Clarke doesn't really register what it is. She just blinks and breathes every now and then. Weak comes to mind. Broken does too. Maybe she's broken now. Maybe her soul shattered. Maybe this is it for her. Maybe this is the moment she wouldn't come back from.

Bellamy is running with her through the woods. He's got her in his arms just like he had earlier, but he is running faster, and this time Miller is behind as back up, ready to defend his alpha if necessary. But nothing is coming, not yet. Clarke doesn't think so. She fights inside her mind, her own worst enemy. The flames of doubt and guilt burn through the hope and faith she had slowly been building.

She cannot let it all burn away. She is better than this. She is a leader. She is Clarke Griffin and she would bow to no one. She had been weak. She had been that frail girl. Once she had believed that someone would always be there to rescue her, but that wasn't true. She had been the one to rescue herself. She had been the one to teach herself to be strong against those that would see her break. She cannot fall into that despair. There's no time for it.

A shock courses through her entire being as she rises against the shadows within her mind. She finds that flicker of light begging to be found and she holds on. She would come back from this. She had to be stronger than this.

The assassins had let them go. For now. This was not a trap for them. This was a statement written loud and clear. One that Clarke would not ignore. They would come again. She knew that. They would try to break her first. And when they did, she'd be ready. When they came again she'd either rip out each of their hearts or let them rip out hers.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

*Bellamy's POV*

Bellamy can hear each of Miller's footsteps as he runs behind him, eyes hopefully alert to any danger coming their way. Bellamy can't think. This girl, this alpha was losing her spark before his eyes and he couldn't help but be distracted by it. He had to bring her back. He had to convince her somehow that this wasn't the end. That sometimes battles had to be lost in order to win the war.

He worried she wouldn't hear him.

Clarke was light in his arms, but the heaviness of her aura weighed him down. He could feel her sorrow overwhelming him. Could feel the pain she felt, the pieces of her soul beginning to crack under the pressure.

Bellamy isn't worried about leading the assassins to the house. Not right now. Not since they'd be leaving the moment they got back. Right now he's worried about losing the girl in his arms. Maybe once they get back Raven could find a way as her second to bring her back. What could he do? He wasn't Clarke's alpha. He couldn't command her to snap out of it. He wasn't her mate, he couldn't bring her back. There was no connection between them besides the ties of friendship.

"Hurry," Miller calls out, panting behind Bellamy. Sweat is running down Bellamy's face now, but he can't stop. They need to go faster. If Miller's voice is any indication, then they don't have long. Those assassins had known Clarke would look for her missing pack member. They knew they would only need to give her time before her loyalty brought her right to them…

Bellamy sees the house. It's closer now, maybe a few hundred yards. He still hears nothing. No hoof beats, no calls, no gunshots. They're safe for now. Unless that's what the assassins want them to think.

"Clarke? Hey, we're going to be at the house soon and you need to snap out of this. I need you. The pack needs you. We all need you right now. I'm going to get Raven and she'll have to snap you out of this. I swear princess, I'll set her on you." Bellamy chuckles because he knew that Raven would jump and claw Clarke out of the recesses of her mind. He also laughed because he was really worried and he didn't know what else to do.

"I'm still here," Clarke whispers and Bellamy lets out a sigh of relief. He hadn't lost her. She had come back to them, to him. He didn't realize just how much he actually cared for her until the moment he thought he was going to lose her.

"Thank God." Bellamy slows down as they reach the door. He sets her down gently and helps her steady herself. The tear stains have dried on her cheeks and her blue eyes have faded into a gray colour, but she's present.

"I've got her." Miller announces as he steals Clarke out of Bellamy's arms. He almost growls at losing her, but he snaps himself out of it. What the hell was wrong with him? The wolf argued that he knew what was wrong and that it wasn't wrong at all. Two alphas weren't only meant to lead together. Bellamy shakes his head again to get rid of the thoughts beginning to cause turmoil in his head.

"Make sure she's okay. I'm going to get everyone else ready so we can leave." Bellamy says as he disappears inside the house ahead of Clarke and Miller. He spares a quick glance back and notices Clarke tightly holding onto Miller. There were tears slowly falling down her cheeks, but she had Miller. He would understand her loss. He knew how close Atom and Clarke had been before. Bellamy didn't really know anything about Clarke. He hadn't ever really asked. He wanted to be able to comfort her, like she had comforted him, but he isn't who she needed right now. Maybe Atom had been a good friend. Maybe she and Miller had a past. Oh that made him bristle. Breathe dumbass, he thought. What was going on with him? The point was he didn't know what Clarke needed right now, but he did know what the pack needed.

"Okay, here's what's happening. We're all getting out of here right now. Haven't packed something, too bad. We leave now, as a unit. No questions, just fall in line and we might all make it out of here alive. Ears and eyes peeled. You protect each other's flanks. No one leaves anyone undefended. Got it?" With a collective nod from each shifter, Bellamy nods back. "Out the door, we're walking. If we need to shift, you leave everything behind. I don't care what it is. You leave it and run, but stay together. Pick someone to stay with for the journey. You stay with each other. You protect each other. Anything happens and you stick together. Let's go."

"Where are we going and just what the Hell attacked us earlier?" Monroe pipes up from the back of the room. A low growl sounds in his throat and she backs up a step before lowering her head slightly.

"A motel and I'll explain when we get there." Bellamy concludes his speech and walks out of the door knowing the pack is following behind him. He had given orders as an alpha and as an alpha they were not to be disobeyed. The packs knew this, even those that did not belong to his.

Bellamy carries nothing as he walks in his wolf form. He has slightly better senses this way. His eyes keep flickering to Miller and Clarke walking beside each other, Miller's arm around Clarke's shoulder. He doesn't know why he is so concerned, but he is. Miller's got her close and they are whispering to each other. Continuously. It's beginning to annoy Bellamy, but then Murphy, the other member designated to be in wolf form, sidles up to him.

"Hey boss, so I hear you got quite the action tonight. Damn well can't believe I missed it!" Murphy chuckles before he finds himself back to the ground, tail between his legs.

"Two of us died Murphy. Died. They won't be coming back. They won't be joking around. You shouldn't be joking around. Otherwise I'll leave you behind." Bellamy snarls. He means it. Roma and Atom were dead and he was sure Murphy could take one of their places as far as he was concerned. "Don't let me catch you joking about this again."

Bellamy is pissed. How dare Murphy try to make light of this. How dare he wish he had been there, been a part of the action. He would have fled the first chance he got. He was a coward.

Murphy stands up slowly, ears flattened after Bellamy gets off of him. He notices that all of his pack have stopped and are staring. He lets out a huff and shakes himself off before once again taking the lead. But not before he notices Clarke looking at him with sorrow in her gaze.

It takes them almost an hour to walk to the motel on the opposite side of town. Somehow they manage to go unnoticed and aren't attacked. They wanted a place that was public enough the assassins wouldn't dare try to kill them, but private enough they could discuss their business. The Red Wood Motel, provides this. Located just in the middle of town, it doesn't have too many rentals. Fox had been on motel duty and she'd done a pretty good job. She'd gotten them three rooms with the credit card Clarke's father had given her. Bellamy stands inside room number one with each member of the pack so that they could dish out the information.

Figuring out who would stay with whom, well that was the current challenge.

"I'm not sleeping in the same room as him." Murphy growls at Miller who has suggested he share a room with the Jaha. "I will rip out his throat and you won't see him in the morning."

"Well I'm not sleeping in the same room as you either," Raven folds her arms and gives the defiant pursed lips look she and Clarke shared. "I don't care where I am so long as I'm not in the same room as you." Both Raven and Murphy share a look of clear disdain for one another, growls echoing deep in each of their throats, Raven's canines on the verge of descending.

"What the hell did you do to piss off everyone Murphy?" Bellamy asks shaking his head. Bellamy himself didn't mind Murphy, anymore, but it was easy to see why others would. He wasn't the easiest guy to get along with and he sure didn't make it easy to like him.

"Hey! Half of it was just them alright. I'm not to blame for everything." Murphy kicks the door, thankfully, instead of Raven, although Bellamy can see he's definitely thinking about it.

"Damage deposit, Murphy." Raven yells, her canines finally out as she shows them to Murphy. "I swear if you-"

"Enough!" Clarke barks. Even Bellamy is surprised by her outburst. "There are three rooms. I will pair everyone up and there are no questions to be asked. Is that clear?"

The room falls silent and all eyes land on Clarke including Bellamy's as he waits to see just how she will find a way to ensure that everyone is at least somewhat satisfied and not going to murder each other.

"Charlotte, Fox and Octavia can share 106. Monroe, Murphy and Miller can share 108. Bellamy, Raven, Wells and I will share 107. Got it?" A quick round of nods follows and within minutes the shifters are off to settle in their respective rooms.

"I am so not sharing a bed with Jaha princess." Bellamy walks over to Clarke and notices she looks better. Stronger even. Her eyes no longer red rimmed look at him without the shadows that had remained for so long. Whatever Miller had told her had brought her some peace of mind. He still wants to talk about earlier though. About why she'd run off and ensure that she gets it through her head to never do it again. He also wants to discuss why she didn't tell him what was out there. But that could be dealt with later.

"So don't. You care share with Raven and I'll share with Wells." Clarke says. Somehow that doesn't make him feel any better. And obviously she sees the look of distaste on his face. "Raven isn't bad company. She doesn't snore or kick, she is a little snuggly though. But don't ever tell her I said that."

"That's not the issue." Bellamy folds his arms across his chest as his voice deepens with the emotions flooding through him. Raven didn't bother him. It wouldn't be the first time they'd shared a bed. No definitely not Raven. The idea of Wells anywhere near Clarke, in the same bed no less irked him and drew him near blind with wrath.

"Look, if you won't share with Wells, then I will. Raven will not put up with him. Unless you or Wells volunteers to take the floor I don't see another way around it. The moment we grant a room change to even one of them, all of them will want to switch too." Clarke meets Bellamy's gaze expectantly. She was right, as usual. There wasn't a way he could win this one, unless…

"We'll each take a rotation. That way we can keep guard and no one has to share with Jaha." Bellamy proudly snickers as a smirk creeps up his face. Now he wouldn't have to stomach the idea of Clarke sharing a bed with Wells. Instantly he feels better.

"Alright, fair enough." A small smile creeps up Clarke's face and Bellamy smiles back. He hasn't lost her. Maybe he almost had, but never again would she come so close to fading. Not if Bellamy could help it.

Four hours later as Bellamy sits on first watch, nearing the end of his shift, he hears it. Crying. A horrible kind of crying, accompanied by screaming and moaning. The instinct Bellamy carries to protect rises up. He is off his feet and banging on the next door, praying, hoping that his pack is not being attacked. Yet there is only a tiny high pitched crying. Gently he knocks on the door and he hears a gasp from inside.

"Hey, it's just me." He murmurs outside the door.

A tiny hand appears in the doorway as it opens wide. Bellamy notices that it is Charlotte, the young little girl who appeared a few days ago. He remembers hearing her crying nights before, but it had been quieted not long after it started.

"B-Bellamy?" She asks, her eyes shifting back and forth.

"Hey, are you okay? Do you want to join me outside?" Bellamy looks down at the scared little child. And a child is exactly what she is. To be brave enough to leave her home, her family, if she had one, at this age… Bellamy admired her courage.

She nods.

"I have nightmares," Charlotte finally admits as the two sit together on a bench just outside Bellamy's motel room. "My, my parents were killed by Jaha. He murdered them when they stood against Abby. I dream about them every night. Normally Clarke's there to hold me and wake me up, but tonight she wasn't there."

"Do you want to know what will help with that?" Bellamy grabs her hand in his. Charlotte nods and squeezes his hand. "You face your demons during the day so they disappear at night. You tell them 'I am not afraid'."

"It's that simple?" Charlotte asks.

"Yes. That simple." Bellamy answers with a gentle smile beginning to grace his face.

"I'm kind of tired now, but thanks. Fox keeps me company, but I miss home. I'm tired of running and being afraid, but I'm always scared." Charlotte whispers.

"Then don't be afraid. Not anymore. Face those demons. Conquer them and then you'll find peace." Bellamy pulls the girl close and hopes he is comforting her and not scaring her away. Yet she holds on tight and wipes her eyes.

"Thank you Bellamy. You know you and Clarke, I think together you'll make a difference." Charlotte smiles, stands and walks back into her room. She shuts the door quietly behind her and Bellamy walks back to the edge of the motel where he'd been before. He stays there for twenty minutes before he decides it is time for Wells shift to begin.

Bellamy goes into the room and roughly shakes the Jaha.

"Get up. You're shift starts now." Bellamy doesn't wait to see if the Jaha wakes up. Instead he walks over to the bed where Clarke and Raven are asleep and he watches them. Both sleeping soundly, something Bellamy knows Clarke hasn't done in a while. He often heard her wandering the house or he would find a way to walk with her when she left the house.

Before Bellamy gets to the creeper point of staring, he turns away and goes to the bed that Wells had been in. It doesn't take him long before he falls asleep, comforted in knowing that Clarke will be getting a good night's sleep.

*Wells POV*

Wells was annoyed to say the least. Here he'd left home thinking he'd find Clarke and she'd forget the engagement and then finally just be his. God he'd always had feelings for her, but now it was a need. He was ready to take a mate and he wanted her. Problem was Blake. Blake was in the way and after what Blake had done… Wells wasn't sure Clarke would ever be his. That bond was forming between the two and he didn't think he could be here to watch it grow. It would be too painful. But she was his best friend and he wanted to support her, wanted to be there for her through all of this.

He runs a hand down the side of his face.

What was he going to do?

Wells had absolutely no idea. He was too busy focusing on surviving and now that the assassins had arrived… They didn't have much time left. He would have to convince Clarke to leave with him soon. But she'd never leave the rest. He'd have to figure out another way. Wells knew what Abbigail and his father did to traitors which is exactly what he and Clarke had become. What he had had to bear witness to those last couple of months continuously haunt him. There was absolutely no way Wells would ever let anything even remotely similar happen to Clarke. Not ever again. She never delved into the details of what she had endure, but he has an idea and it always made him sick.

He would find a way to save her.

It was his thinking that distracted him. Distracted him from the figure sneaking up behind him. It was too late by the time he realized he wasn't alone. The hand was already around his neck, the nails digging in to his esophagus. He chokes as the claws pull fast and hard, tearing out his jugular. Thick, warm blood flows down what remains of his neck where it begins to soak the shirt he wears. His legs give out beneath him and he crashes to the ground gasping and begging in his mind for the ability to call for help. Within mere seconds a familiar face appears above him. Shadows cover most of their face, but he recognizes them even in the dark. Confusion radiates throughout his body. He was in shock. He couldn't understand what was happening.

But it didn't last long.

Wells choked on his blood for only a minute before he was encompassed by darkness as the figure walked away smirking. Another figure lurks off to the side; another familiar face. There was no way for him to tell Clarke, not now. She didn't know. He wanted her to know. He'd been so selfish, and he regrets it, but there's nothing he can do.

He slips away feeling cold and alone. Afraid and angry. His last thoughts go out for Clarke. He needs his best friend to survive. He wishes he could survive. He wishes he had done more. He was terrified and there was no one to heal him. No one he could tell about who had just murdered him.

With shadows clouding his vision and a numbness encompassing his body, Wells finally fades away with no way to explain the traitor in their midst.


	13. Chapter 13

*Clarke's POV*

Clarke wakes suddenly. Something has snapped her out of the most peaceful sleep she's gotten in she has no idea how long. She rolls to her side and notices that Raven no longer resides beside her. She bolts upright and looks around the room. No one appears to be in it besides Clarke. Where was everyone? Rough and loud shouts sound from outside the room. If the yelling outside was any indication, she could guess.

Clarke rolls out of bed, and pulls on the shoes she'd been wearing constantly. Her running shoes never left her side. They had never failed her. Not yet.

Clarke wanders towards the door and pulls it open. Outside, Bellamy is arguing with Raven. Charlotte is huddled with her arms tightly around her middle. Murphy is standing behind her looking pissed off. Fox hovers in the doorway to her room. Octavia looks exhausted, but upset. Monroe, Miller and Wells were nowhere to be found.

"What's going on?" Clarke asks, rubbing her tired eyes. One night of blissful sleep and it was over. She hadn't even expected to sleep so long. She'd had only a single nightmare. But she supposes it all must come to an end. "Where's the other three?"

"Clarke, you're supposed to be asleep." Bellamy looks to Clarke, a worried expression gracing his face. Something else simmers beneath the surface, but she can't quite tell what.

"Who can sleep with all this racket?" Clarke chuckles, but then adopts a more serious tone. "But seriously, where are Wells, Monroe and Miller?"

"Clarke, um." Raven looks at her with that look. That fucking pitiful look and Clarke knows, just knows that something happened.

"What? Tell me." Clarke pulls out her alpha voice and stares down her second. She takes only one quick breath before preparing her mind to shut off all emotion that might make her lose her ability to think clearly.

"Clarke, Miller woke up early and he went looking for Wells. Wells didn't come wake Bellamy for his second shift. Miller and Monroe, they went to go find him, see if he fell asleep on the job. You know Wells. And uh, Clarke, we couldn't find him. Monroe and Miller are out looking for him right now and-"

"He's missing?" Clarke shouts. Damn those assassins. They took him and Clarke wasn't going to stand by. She had to have known they would come for him. The moment they caught his scent he would become as big a target as herself. She had to leave now, find the trail and get him back.

"Clarke, there was blood. There was a good portion of blood." Bellamy takes a step toward her and she takes a step back raising her hand. No, she couldn't deal with this. She could not deal with this right now. Those emotions begin to boil beneath the surface fighting against her shields.

"Why did no one wake me up?" Clarke snarls, here she could have been up an hour ago, helping, searching. She could have found the trail and been after the assassins by now! If they had gotten her up, they could have found him by now. Damn them for deciding to make the decision for her.

"Clarke you were finally sleeping." Raven answers. "But it was wrong. I'm sorry."

"You'd better be. You had no right to keep this from me. No right to make that call for me. Now you guys just go do something productive, I don't want to see you right now." Clarke closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. Wells was missing. There had been blood. Apparently lots of blood. Oh God, she could not deal with finding another head nailed to a tree. She couldn't deal with another body. Especially not Wells, not him. Not now, not ever. He was her closest companion aside from Raven. He was her best friend.

"Clarke…" Bellamy reaches for her and she pulls away.

"No Bellamy. That includes you. Just leave me alone." Clarke walks away to the back of the motel. Away from her pack. She couldn't look at them right now. Here she could have been helping look and they had thought her sleep mattered more. God! Wells was missing and he was her best friend and she couldn't fucking deal if he had been kidnapped or worse. He was not dead. He'd struggled. Wells wouldn't go without a fight and they couldn't risk killing him. No, he was Jaha's _son_. They wouldn't dare kill him, would they? _No!_ He had to be alive because there could be no other option. Not in her mind. He wasn't dead. _He wasn't dead._

Her breathing picks up and her chest begins to hurt. She tells herself to _breathe_ , but it _doesn't work_. Each breath becomes a struggle, like she trying to suck in air through a straw. Her chest feels like a brick is pressing into it. Her vision begins to blur as tears rush down her cheeks. She was having another panic attack, something she'd become accustomed to growing up. She had always gotten through them, but she'd always had someone who got her through it. Someone who held her, who rubbed circles into her back, and whispered calming words in her ear. But she is alone in the woods, surrounded by trees, where no one would be by her side to help her through it.

She sinks to the dirt covered ground, the world a distant figure as her mind begins closing in on itself. She can't breathe. She can't think. She can't do this alone. She tries to call for someone, anyone, but no sounds come out.

"Clarke! Clarke?" Bellamy suddenly appears around the corner as if he could hear her internal screams for help. Within seconds he is there, beside her on the ground, holding her while she begins to sob and her breathing becomes panicked gasps.

"I can't lose again. I can't. Wells is my best friend and some days I hate him, but I love him and I-I can't lose him too." Clarke sobs into Bellamy's shirt while he strokes her back. God why could she just suddenly breathe when he was around? Like he brought a burst of oxygen and calm with him everywhere he went. There were so many days when she wished it wasn't him beside her, but time and time again he proved to her that he was here. It was always him. Where she wishes it was Raven, or Miller here, they weren't. It was Bellamy who was there and he was comforting her and she felt _safe_. She felt safe when he was near her. She felt in control when he stood by her side. And like so many other times, in this moment when she feels powerless she can feel his strength pouring into her, caressing her, helping her through this. He didn't even think before he rushed to her side. He was just there. He just _knew_ , like always and in this moment she is more than grateful.

Clarke begins to feel her airways opening up, oxygen flowing back into her body. Somehow Bellamy has helped her through a panic attack. No one but Miller, Raven and Wells had ever been able to help her through them. This is a state she never thought she'd be in around him. She hated breaking down in front of people. In those moments she appeared weak and she hated seeming weak. Right now though, she doesn't really care.

"I know." Bellamy presses her close to him and she wipes her nose. "I know." He repeats, just letting her hold onto him for as long as she needs.

Ten minutes later, her breathing has become normal once more. Her heart rate has slowed and her mind isn't overflowing with panic and dread. It takes her a moment to gather herself.

"Thank you," She pulls away from him, momentarily resting her back against the nearest tree. She hugs her legs and wipes her eyes. She needs another moment before she can go anywhere. "I'm sorry you had to see that. It's been a while since I had one."

"Clarke," He pauses a second and a look flits through his eyes briefly. "Don't ever feel you have to hide when you have a panic attack. We all break down, okay? Being overwhelmed is not weakness. You never need to hide, not from me."

"Bellamy," It's like he can read her mind. As if he knows her fears and knows just what to say to relieve them. "I just- It's hard for me to open up. My mother always taught me that love and emotion were weakness. My father taught me the opposite. And that leaves me stuck somewhere in the middle. The last few years since my father died were especially hard. I had to learn fast that showing any form of what she and the others viewed as weakness got you hurt, so you just didn't show anything like that in public or around them. I've spent the last two years locking everything up and ensuring that only a select few people saw me break down. I had to learn that you couldn't trust anyone so I relied only upon Raven, Wells and Miller to tell my secrets to, to show any kind of emotion with, to break down with. It's going to take time for me to be able to be open with people again and to learn to trust again. I'm not saying I don't trust you, because I do, but there's that part of me that will always second guess or reprimand for things."

Sadness fills Bellamy's gaze as he takes her in. She feels small in his gaze, like his next words will either make or break her.

"Clarke, I'm sorry you ever had to go through that. That's not how anyone should live. I know it will take time, so don't think I expect you to just open up to me. We all have demons Clarke. Let me be here when you need help fighting yours." Clarke doesn't know what to say. She's still slightly embarrassed about the whole situation, and she doesn't want to have to lean on anyone for help, but she nods. Somehow in this moment, she knows he gets it.

Bellamy stands to his feet and extends a hand out to her.

"C'mon. Let's go join the search party."

Clarke nods and within a few minutes, they are searching together for Wells.

Clarke knows, she just has a gut feeling they aren't going to find him. Not alive anyway. She had felt a sort of emptiness in her chest from the moment they had told her Wells was missing. It had felt like a pit in her stomach, one that only the death of a friend could provide. She had denied it ferociously, but who was she kidding, Thelonius was unpredictable. Wells was his son, but Wells had betrayed him and fled. He was a traitor like the rest of them and would get the same fate, one day at least. Yet Clarke hoped, prayed, and begged he was alive when they found him.

"Bellamy!" Clarke calls out. Neither are wolves right now. They figured it would be safer in human form while they searched. This was after all, a heavily human populated area. "I got something."

For ten minutes they follow the trail, follow the trail to where they find Monroe and Miller waiting by a creek. Charlotte is off in the corner crying lightly, her arms wrapped around her abdomen. Miller immediately stands from the body they are looking over and runs to Clarke's side.

"Clarke, I mean it this time, you don't go over there." Miller commands with the utmost sympathy in his eyes.

"Don't tell me. Please don't tell me." Clarke's hands cover her mouth. Somehow she had just known, known he hadn't made it. She didn't want to believe it. She wanted to see the body. She had to know how he died so when she killed each one of the assassins she could inflict the exact same damage upon each and make them suffer like he had.

"It wasn't the assassins Clarke. His throat was torn out and someone tried to hide the body." Miller pauses before whispering. "Charlotte found the body a few minutes ago. Murphy's scent is all over the area. Clarke, Murphy threatened him last night."

"I can't do this right now, I need a moment." Clarke gasps. She tries to hold it in, but as she walks away from the scene brushing hands off of her, the tears begin to fall. She had known, but now it was real and Wells was dead. There were days he had annoyed her to no ends and there were days she loved him so much it hurt. And now he was dead. Killed by someone, not by murderous assassins, but by someone else.

Clarke walks back to the motel, not caring who follows, who might be watching. She enters her room, shuts the door behind her and crashes onto the bed. She doesn't care. Not anymore. Feelings, they only proved to hurt you when you were being attacked by assassins, tracked by your mother and being killed off one by one by an invisible force. Maybe her mother had been right after all.

*Bellamy's POV*

Everyone was worried about Clarke. Bellamy included. That first night had passed without an assassin's attack and so had the next night. Bellamy worried the assassins would come at any time, but Clarke wouldn't leave the bed she was in, refusing to eat, drink or do anything other than lie there. He needed his partner. He needed the strength she gave him to lead.

But right now that would have to wait. Bellamy goes in search of Miller. They had let the first night go by without asking questions, but now was the time when they needed to ask questions. Charlotte had discovered the body and he would need to find out what she knew. Then he would question Murphy as his scent seemed to linger all around the body. It was hard not to make assumptions especially with Murphy's threat hanging in the air, but Bellamy had to do this the right way. He couldn't let thoughts of a broken Clarke cloud his judgements.

"Hey Miller," Bellamy beckons the beta over, hoping to first get some information about the assassins.

"Yeah?" Miller asks, eyes wavering back to the door every few seconds. It's obvious he is also worried about Clarke and wants to be near her. It's not because he's in love with Clarke, their just good friends. _Enough!_ Why was Bellamy so obsessed with thinking Miller and Clarke were involved? It was clear they weren't involved, at least Bellamy didn't think so.

"Talk assassins. Tell me what you know. Clarke mentioned some stuff briefly, but I want to know why they haven't attacked us again." Bellamy motions for Miller to sit beside him on the chair seated next to Bellamy's. They are currently in the room occupied by Miller. His roommates are currently out getting some food from the vendor across the street.

"The assassins, briefly, are selected at birth. I don't know how, they just are. They stay with their families until the age of twelve, but all through this time they receive training. Not too many people know about them, only the more elite of the shifters, as the assassins often do the elite's dirty work for them. Anyway, they're hard core trained. They are stripped of emotions and made into the ultimate weapons." Miller answers, constantly fixing his beanie.

"So how did you come to know about them?" Bellamy kind of regrets asking once it's out. He doesn't mean to assume that Miller is an omega by any means because he's clearly Clarke's third in command, but he is curious. Back when he'd been part of that pack, he hadn't known of the assassins. He hadn't really even known any of the members Clarke talked about or that had followed her when she had left. His time spent there had been spent ensuring no one discovered Octavia and that left him with few to no friends and involved in absolutely nothing within the pack.

"Clarke. When she formed her pack, she told us all of the dirty little secrets her mother had. Plus I've had a few previous run-ins with them. Long story, but we all kind of have. Especially after Jake was murdered." Miller's gaze looks haunted in that moment, obviously remembering his other run-ins with them.

"Sorry if it brings up bad memories." Bellamy remembers Clarke telling him about her past with Jaha and her mother. He remembers the conversation he'd had with her earlier in the woods and remembering it makes him want to kill the bastards all over again. He also begins to see that she was not the only member of the Sky Cru pack affected by Jaha or Abby. It seemed each of her pack had been harmed in one way or another and each seemed to cope in their own ways, some not at all.

"It's alright. We've all got bad memories." Miller claps Bellamy on the shoulder and then continues. "Basically, the assassins are the worst. We need to be worried about them."

"How come they haven't attacked us again? I mean sure we're in a motel with people, but it doesn't seem to me like they really care about witnesses." Bellamy meets Miller's gaze and sees a hint of fear there, before it returns to the stoic expression he normally carries. What the Hell had these kids all been through to scar them this much?

"They like the prey to feel secure and safe before they strike the final blow." The way Miller says it sends a shiver down Bellamy's spine and he knows that they _will_ be back and they _will_ need to leave soon.

*Clarke's POV*

Clarke spends the next two days after finding Wells dead doing nothing. She just lies in her bed. She refuses to eat, to sleep, to do anything but lie down and stare at the wall. She doesn't know what they did with the body, doesn't think she really cares. She's gone numb. Not caring was working. She wasn't sobbing, wasn't in pain, wasn't caring about anything. She just felt numb and it was the best she'd felt in days.

Raven tries to get her to eat. Bellamy tries to get her out of bed. Miller tries to comfort her. But nothing works. There is nothing to cure her aching, broken heart. Nothing, but maybe one thing. Maybe there is a human cure she's heard of before. Something Bellamy told her he used to do when he found out he was banished. Maybe it will help, but not yet. She still hurts too much.

*Bellamy's POV*

Bellamy can just feel the pain Clarke is feeling. He can sense the clouded aura surrounding her. He knows he must find justice for Wells. He needs to find the killer. He's got to question Charlotte and Murphy.

After his talk with Miller, Bellamy heads out with Monroe to dig a grave for Wells. Shortly after, Bellamy waits for Charlotte, Murphy and Octavia to come back from the vendor. When they do return, Bellamy tells all of them to go to the third room for now because he intends to chat with Charlotte and then Murphy and get to the bottom of Wells death.

"Hey Charlotte, do you mind if I talk to you?" Bellamy gently coaxes the young girl.

"Sure." She answers, her hair is in tight braids around her head, probably curtesy of Octavia. "Is Clarke going to be okay?"

"Raven and Fox are in there right now talking to her. I'm sure she'll be alright. She just needs some time. Wells was close to her." Bellamy says. "Now I know you found the body. Can you tell me anything about it that was off?"

"Please don't make me talk. I don't want to get anyone in trouble." The fear behind Charlotte's eyes tells Bellamy he has the right person. She obviously knows something.

"You won't get anyone in trouble Charlotte."

"Okay." She pauses for a moment. "I was just out walking shortly after you and Clarke left. I wanted to help find Wells and then I found Monroe. I went with Monroe looking for him. Wells was like a big brother to me. He always took care of me just like Clarke. And I just walked away a little bit and I found the body by a tree. Wells, his throat was cut and there was blood all over the place, but there was bits of blood on the ground before the body. I think someone put him there. I don't know who! I don't know, I swear. But I smelt Murphy at the body. I'm not saying he did it or anything. I don't want to get him in trouble. He's not going to get into trouble is he?" The little girl has fear behind her eyes, whether fear for Murphy or for herself, he can't tell.

"Thanks Charlotte. And he'll only get in trouble if he's done something wrong. You can go see the others. Could you send Murphy in here when you go?" Bellamy smiles at the little girl. She was innocent and she wanted everyone around her to remain innocent. Bellamy remembered Octavia at her age. Octavia had been trouble at her age, but then again so would any young shifter trapped in the house.

Murphy walks in and casually slouches on the chair across from Bellamy with a, "What's up boss?"

"Why was your scent around the body?" Bellamy gets straight to the point. He wants answers and Murphy obviously knows something as the fear secretes from his pours and Bellamy catches right on. "Did you kill him?"

"No I did nothing wrong. I don't know how my scent got there. I swear." Murphy holds his hands up, but Bellamy knows he is lying.

"Answer me honestly Murphy and this doesn't have to get ugly." Bellamy wants to give his friend the benefit of the doubt. He knows Murphy and Wells didn't get along. They practically hated one another.

"I didn't do anything." Murphy sticks with his answer. He stands from his chair and turns to move toward the door. "Can I go now?"

Bellamy is up and presses Murphy back against a wall within seconds. His hand grips Murphy's throat while the other locks Murphy against the door. Bellamy is fuming. How dare his second lie to his face? Here Clarke was hurting so bad she couldn't leave bed and this beta wasn't telling him what he knew. Bellamy was willing to drag the information out if he had to and Murphy knew it.

"Okay, okay!" Murphy panics. "I found the body."

"Charlotte found the body. Explain Murphy." Bellamy squeezes Murphy's throat.

"I didn't kill him I swear! I found the body and dragged it away. I didn't want anyone to find it. I thought that if he just disappeared you'd assume the assassins took him. Okay?" Murphy yells, obviously struggling against Bellamy's grip.

"You threatened his life Murphy. How am I supposed to believe you?" Bellamy thought he could trust his second, and here he had lied to his face. Now he was just spilling out truths here and there to cover his ass.

"If you had found the body near here, who would your first suspect have been, huh? Me, Bellamy. I'm your second for a reason. Trust that I'm telling the truth." Murphy pleads, but Bellamy needs answers, real answers.

"If you moved the body whose scent was on the body?" Bellamy asks trying to remain clear headed, but images of Clarke lying in bed, not getting out, continue to flash in his mind. He needs to find out the truth for her.

"I don't know! I swear." Bellamy squeezes harder. "I swear! Look if I hadn't moved the body, you would have all thought I did it and I didn't, I swear I didn't. You've got to believe me."

"Bellamy put him down!" Bellamy automatically loosens his grip as he recognizes the voice of the blonde standing in the doorway.

*Clarke's POV*

A loud ruckus from outside disturbs Clarke and she just knows it's not something good. She knows that she will need to find the strength to get out of bed and go try to resolve it. She knows it must be something to do with Wells. She can feel the anger radiating throughout her as if someone else is possessing her body.

Slowly, Clarke manages to drag her sorry ass out of bed. She knows, just knows that this is unacceptable alpha behaviour, but she is really feeling the pain. The self-loathing. Somehow she must make up for it. She must do something alpha-like.

Clarke exits her room and heads towards the shouting coming from the next room. She ignores Raven and Fox who both get up as they notice she is leaving her bed. She throws a hand out telling them to stay put. Clarke enters the next room's door and finds Bellamy pressing Murphy up against the wall.

"Bellamy put him down!" She shouts closing the door behind her. Bellamy lets Murphy go who falls to the ground coughing. "What are you doing?"

"He has information."

"So ask him nicely." Clarke fists her hands and rests them on her hips.

"He lied about it. We should exile him." Bellamy looks into her, not at her, but into her soul. It seems that way anyway.

"We can't just exile him." Clarke stands firm in her decision. They had no proof Murphy killed Wells. If he didn't admit to the crime, then they couldn't exile him.

"We can if I say so. Clarke, he found the body and moved it. He threatened to cut open Wells throat two nights ago right before Wells died that exact way. What more proof do we need?" Bellamy tosses his hands in the air, clearly frustrated. "I won't tolerate traitors."

"Neither will I, but Bellamy, it could have been someone else. We can't exile him without concrete proof. Wells wouldn't want that. I don't want that." Clarke argues, moving closer to the hot headed alpha. "Let's worry about this another day."

"You're hurting so bad Clarke. I just want to find the person who did this." Bellamy meets her gaze as she rests a hand on his arm. He is pleading with her, but she won't let an innocent go down for a crime he didn't commit.

"I know. Murphy may be a lot of things, but a murderer isn't one of them." Clarke answers as her final answer.

"Thank you Clarke. At least one of us still has some sense." Murphy stands to his feet, spitting his words out. "You don't even realize that you've become her lap dog." Murphy grips his throat and angrily makes his way out the door.

"Don't listen to him." Clarke says calmly. "We'll find who murdered Wells, but not this way."

Clarke turns away and leaves the room, knowing she's done what she can, knows that she cannot do anymore right now. Now she's going to go head back to her room and rest her thoughts.

"Clarke?" Miller calls to her as she exits the room and he comes around the corner. "Hey, you're up."

"Not right now Miller." Clarke thrusts a hand out, her voice exhausted.

"Clarke, let me help you." Miller falls in line beside her and she stops before going back into her room. "Clarke it's alright. We can talk this through, just like we always do."

"Not this time Miller. I'm sorry." Clarke turns her back on him and shuts the door behind her.

Maybe in a few more hours she'll have the strength to be the alpha her pack clearly needs. But right now, right now she just wanted to shut the pain out.


	14. Chapter 14

Part XIIII

*Clarke's POV*

"Where did you bury the body?" Clarke walks out to the porch of the motel, in front of the door to their room. She has rested for another three hours following the confrontation with Murphy and she has come to think that she needs to go and talk to Wells, even if he cannot hear her.

"Clarke…" Bellamy stands up, surprised by her sudden appearance.

"I need to know." Clarke needs to put her burdens to rest. She needs to talk to him one last time. Say the things she should have said before. She can't even remember if they were on good terms or bad.

"I'll take you," Bellamy answers standing to his feet.

"Thank you," Clarke presses closer to Bellamy's side, feeling the warmth coming off of him and wanting to be nearer. She feels comforted by his presence. She can sense the soothing aura surrounding him trying to soothe her.

The pair walk for twenty minutes to the location where Bellamy and Monroe had buried Wells. It is by the creek where the body was found, but it has a serenity to it and Clarke knows Wells would be happy with it. The trees shade the surrounding area, but light filters in from above as the sun begins to set and it casts a glow around the mound of dirt.

"Can I have a moment?" Clarke can't face Bellamy right now. This moment belongs to her and her best friend.

"Of course." Bellamy walks away. He doesn't go far. Clarke can feel his presence hovering, ever watching.

The sun is beginning to set and Clarke knows maybe it's wrong, but she has an itch in her finger to draw the scene. The sun setting through the trees, casting a glow on Wells grave. She feels lonely. Wells was her constant companion. He'd known her since birth and had been at her side in almost everything. And now he was just gone.

"Wells?" Clarke gently sits on the ground in front of the mound of dirt. She gently presses a hand on the mound, not caring about getting dirt between her fingers.

"I'm sorry for everything. For being selfish when I walked away and for choosing not to love you back. You were there for everything and I don't care that you didn't know what was going on. I forgive you Wells, for everything. I just hope you can forgive me." Clarke bows her head for a moment of silence, hoping that her thoughts reach into the land of the dead. If there is such a place.

Clarke feels a light touch on her shoulder before she is being hauled to her feet. She gasps in surprise and makes to fight her way out, but it's no use as she feels the blade poke her side. Startled she freezes and takes a deep breath. She smells the scent, knows who has finally come for her. Clarke straightens her back and holds her head high.

"Hello Finn. Finally come to take me back?" Clarke doesn't get the chance to wipe away the tear falling down her face.

"No. I'm not here for that. I came to warn you." Finn jostles behind her back, but gently whispers in her ear. "They're coming tonight. If you don't run, they will find you and kill you. All of you. Abby sent word. She knows where you are Clarke. She fingered out your ploy. He's coming and he'll be here by nightfall. Run Clarke. I can't protect you if you don't run."

"Protect me?" Clarke twists hard, freeing herself from his grasp. She hisses lightly at the pain the new incision the knife has caused.

"I would never hurt you Clarke. You know that." Clarke comes face to face with the boy she'd known for many years in her youth. His hair was longer, shaggier than last time she had seen him. Had it really been so long ago? That night that Octavia had come speeding in and saved her ass. It feels like it's been forever, but Clarke knows it has been only two weeks. Finn's brown eyes are pleading with hers, yet the dagger he holds is still poised right at her.

"Never? What about when you were going to drag me back huh? What about the assassins? Atom, Roma and Wells are dead because you lead them to our door!" Clarke can't help the fury that escapes her lips.

"I didn't mean to Clarke. I didn't know. I only just got word of what they were planning for you Clarke. You were traitors, but I understand now. I just wanted to warn you. He's coming." Finn begins backing off slightly.

"Clarke!" Clarke hears Bellamy calling her name.

"Say what you came to say and say it quickly." Clarke hisses. She can't risk Bellamy overhearing this conversation.

"He's coming to get you. They're planning something big for you Clarke. But first they want to start with eliminating each member of your rebellion. Marcus hasn't been found out yet, but pray he isn't Clarke. She has no mercy left in her. When you ran, all bets were off." Clarke feels a shot of fear spread throughout her body. He was coming. He was coming tonight. And she would have to face him. "He'll kill you all Clarke. Please run, get out of here as soon as you can."

"You won't stay and fight with us? Are you really such a coward?" Clarke spits. How dare he come to warn her now, of all times. He couldn't have warned her that the assassins knew of her location? He couldn't have warned her sooner about Jaha coming to town?

"Not a coward Clarke. I just prefer to hunt in the shadows." Finn nods quickly before shifting and rushing off into the woods.

"Clarke!" Bellamy comes roaring out of the brush and spots the fleeing shifter.

"He's fine. He came with a warning." Clarke grabs Bellamy and swiftly pulls him towards her. She can't afford him going after Finn right now. "We leave tonight Bellamy. All of us. Enough mourning."

"What did who say?" Bellamy asks looking over her shoulder, obviously wanting to go after Finn. There was no time for that though. "What happened to your side?

"Doesn't matter, I'll be fine, just know we are in serious danger and we need to leave as soon as we have everything together. We run through the woods and stop a little ways away. You go to the motel and start packing. Give me the phone, I'll start setting up arrangements." Clarke gestures for the phone.

Bellamy sensing her determination in the matter simply hands her the disposable phone he carries and with one last look, Clarke leaves Wells behind and looks ahead.

After walking back, Clarke tells Bellamy to go inside and start getting everyone ready. She stays outside and thinks for a few minutes. Tonight, when everyone fell asleep, she would run towards the man who would surely kill her. She was afraid. No, terrified. This man who had tortured her for many years finally caught up and she would be going straight to him. Fear plagued her body, but she had to remain strong. For Wells. For Atom. For Roma. For every pack member still alive. For herself most of all.

Ten minutes later and everyone is packed and ready to go. The pack slips away into the cover of darkness and makes their way into the woods. Half travelling wolves, half travelling human. They stop four hours away into the trek, deciding to stay at another motel for the night. It is far enough away that Clarke knows she will have just enough time to find Jaha without the pack finding out. The pack is split between two rooms. Clarke, Fox, Octavia, and Raven in one and Charlotte, Miller, Murphy, Monroe and Bellamy in the other. Currently Bellamy would be taking watch.

Clarke pretends to go to sleep. Next to Fox, she knows she will have an easy way to escape. Fox will sleep through anything. She could get up without disturbing the girl. The next challenge would be getting past whoever would be on guard duty. It would have to be Raven and that is why Clarke volunteered Raven for the second watch, with Raven's agreement of course. Due to their blood bond, Clarke could command her second and her second would be compelled to do her bidding.

Clarke does sleep, briefly. She doesn't dream, not really. A few glimpses of faces here and there. But nothing lasts long.

Raven is soon jostled awake by Bellamy who soon gently pats Clarke. "Are you okay?" Bellamy asks quietly, the reason it seems he has awoken her. She pretends to wake up even though having been awake for around the last hour. Her thoughts kept her awake the few precious moments she did not fall into sleep. Clarke nods and pretends to go back to sleep before she watches Bellamy leave. She then slowly stretches and makes her way to the edge of the motel lot with Raven by her side.

"What are you up to?" Raven casually asks as they sit side by side staring out into the woods together. Raven clearly knows Clarke doesn't want to chat with her. Raven has always known what Clarke was thinking, sometimes even before Clarke herself knew.

"What do you mean?" Clarke asks. She is actually surprised Raven waited so long before asking her. Raven always caught on to the little things Clarke tried to hide. Surprised as she was, she was grateful. Everyone in the camp would be asleep including Bellamy.

"Don't play coy with me. I know something is up. I smelt Finn's scent on you. What did he tell you?" Raven looks at Clarke with drawn eyebrows and a knowing expression.

"He merely told me that he didn't betray us. He was pleading his own case." Clarke says staring into Raven's chocolate eyes.

"Liar." Raven states.

"As my second, I command you not to tell anyone what I'm about to tell you. Not Bellamy, not Miller, no one. Got it?" Raven nods. "Oh and you aren't allowed to follow me or tell anyone here about where I'm going."

"As you command." Raven grits her teeth, obviously angry over Clarke commanding her.

"Finn told me Jaha is here. He told me he is planning on coming tonight. I'm going to make a deal with him. That's all Finn told me. He also said something about protecting us from the shadows."

"Don't go Clarke. He wants your head and if you go alone, he'll get it." Raven pleads with Clarke going so much as to let a tear fall down her cheek.

"My life isn't worth the hundreds that will be lost if I don't give myself up. I'm sorry Raven. I hope you can understand." Clarke sucked at goodbyes and so she left it at that. She takes a deep breath and then silently slips away. She knows that she really only has a thirty minute window before someone notices she is gone or Raven figures out some way to get around the command and let someone know. Clarke wants to make a trade. Her life for those of her pack here and trapped inside the walls Abby created. She needs to make the trade. She doesn't know if she can handle more blood on her hands.

Clarke shifts forms into that of her wolf. She knows it's cowardly to just hand herself over, but if she can get the lives of her friends than she'll sacrifice her life a thousand times over. She wants to save her friends and now that the assassins and Jaha are on her trail, there's little she can bargain with. Her life is what she has.

Clarke pads through the woods, her panic setting in. Seeing Jaha again… She never thought she'd see his face again, not in a very long time. But here she was off to see the man who had damaged her beyond repair. The man who beat her and whipped her. She would face him for her friends, her family.

Clarke stops after three hours of running back in the direction they had just came from. She is sure that this is far enough away that she has enough time to make the deal with Jaha and then let whatever happen to her happen. She stops in the middle of a clearing and howls, announcing her presence to that of Jaha. She assumes he is already here. If Finn said he was coming tonight then Jaha would already be here. He would have been stalking her from the moment Finn knew of his presence.

"Come out, come out wherever you are." Clarke quietly mumbles as she shifts forms again and looks around. Her heart is pounding and she is sure the woods around her can feel the fear radiating off of her. She knows this probably wasn't the best idea she's ever had.

The leaves on the ground behind her crunch and she whips around not to find Jaha, but little Charlotte. "Charlotte?" Clarke exclaims. "What are you doing here?" Clarke moves towards the younger girl.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. Clarke I didn't mean to." Charlotte begins to cry and reach for Clarke.

"What, Char? What didn't you mean to do?" Clarke is confused, but the girl obviously has something she needs to get off her chest. "Why did you follow me? It's not safe."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to, but you left and I was scared and you're not safe out here. Jaha is in the woods Clarke. I should have said something earlier. I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to, but he has my brother." Charlotte pushes into Clarke's chest and Clarke holds her tight. What was she talking about?

"Char? Talk to me." But before Clarke can answer, two assassins walk out from the trees and Clarke shoves Charlotte beside her, hoping to be able to protect her. She hadn't planned on having to protect someone other than herself, but well she'd deal with the situation.

She suddenly feels a presence behind her back and for the second time today feels a knife presses deep into her side. "Hello Clarke," The instant terror Clarke feels at hearing that voice cannot be described in words, but she feels it envelop her entire being. "You're mummy wants you back."

Clarke holds her head high as Jaha shifts her around to face him, the knife pressed against her neck. "I'm surprised it took you so long." Getting those words out without stuttering took the most effort Clarke could give.

"Oh Clarke, did you really think you could escape?" Jaha presses a hand to the side of Clarke's face and begins to slowly trail it down her cheek to her chin, her shoulder and down to her breasts. She jerks herself and stops as the knife cuts into the side of her neck. "I wouldn't move if I were you. This knife has your name on it. I wouldn't scream either Charlotte." The little girl backs off from Clarke slightly, and silently whimpers.

"I want to make a deal." Clarke blinks rapidly, her eyes wishing to close and shut out the world.

"A deal? Oh Clarke, it's past time for deals." The predator in Jaha eyes Clarke's every little move, her breathing and throat as she swallows.

"My life for my pack's and the shifters already here. You're quarrel is with me. Not them." Clarke follows the movement of Jaha's gaze as he moves his eyes side to side and seems to be thinking. Maybe he will take her offer. He needs to take her offer. She can't watch more die.

"Your life is already mine Clarke. Why would I spare a bunch of traitors?" Jaha grips her shoulder tight with the hand not pressing the knife to her throat. He turns her around so her back is pressed against his chest and he forces her chin to look ahead. Ahead to where the two assassins grab and begin dragging forward the little blonde girl. Charlotte is crying and begging, but the assassins don't care. "This little one was about to betray my trust. Silly little girl following you. Pretty little thing thought it would be smart to follow you. Guess her death is on you. She'll be the second to learn her lesson from me. Although I can't quite say I'll enjoy it very much. So pathetic and cowardly. No challenge here." Jaha presses the knife into Clarke's throat as she tugs forward.

"The second? You nailed Atom's head on that tree?" Clarke asks, it didn't seem like Jaha's style. She wants to stall him and find out what information she can. She needs to find a way to save Charlotte.

"Oh no, not that child. My own son. Didn't expect to see me. Didn't expect to see little Charlotte here watching in the shadows as I dragged my claws across his throat. Little Charlotte has been my little spy from the beginning. She gave me little bit of information here and there. Once she met up with you, well, she saw the chance to rescue her brother. Sent me notes and letters and that is how my assassin's found you and your little squad of nobodies. She also stood watch as I tore out Wells neck…" He purrs and Clarke wants to throw up. Charlotte had been betraying them this whole time? "Dax proved a disappointment, but Charlotte, you proved worthy. Don't think I would let you live though child." He looks at Charlotte who whimpers and tries to get away. "You will die for what you've seen and what you've done. And you will be right here to watch Clarke." Jaha whispers the last sentence in her ear, speaking as if to a lover. She squirms in his grasp, but he has her dead locked.

"I didn't mean to Clarke! I'm sorry! He has George and he said he would be okay if I did what he wanted and I couldn't let him die after our parents. I won't tell anyone, I'll be good. I'll do whatever you ask. I'm sorry. I'm really sorry," Charlotte begs, cries and pleads.

"No, Charlotte is innocent. Leave her alone. Take me instead! She didn't mean to follow me." Clarke continues to struggle, not caring about the knife slicing into her neck. She can't let the little girl die because of her.

"Charlotte is a traitor much like yourself. I would have found and killed her after you, much like the rest of your pathetic little pack. Her following you tonight is just convenient for me. I'm sure her death will haunt you until the day I decide to kill you. I shall like to see you suffer before the end." Jaha drags Clarke forwards, closer to the assassins holding the terrified Charlotte.

"Why did you kill Wells? He was your own son!" Clarke begins to cry now. She knows she's about to witness the death of another of her pack members. She begins to cry because she knows she cannot stop this. There is nothing more she can do except stall the inevitable.

"My son by blood, but he was no son. He sided with you when you ran and we couldn't have that. Traitors are traitors no matter who sired them." Jaha has no remorse in his tone. Clarke had expected as much, but not about his own son. Clarke believed that if Jaha had ever loved anything it was his own son. Cared for at least a little. But here she was proved wrong again about the monster holding her.

"You can't kill her. Take me back right now and I'll do whatever you want. I'll cooperate and make sure no one rebels against you ever again. Just don't kill her. She's just a little girl!" Clarke pleads for the life of the youngest member in her pack.

"I can do whatever I please and right now I'm going to kill this girl in front of you and let you suffer the guilt of it." Jaha presses his lips to her cheek and she trembles. "I'm not going to take you Clarke. Not tonight."

"Why not?" Clarke asks, fearing she already knows the answer.

"Because Clarke, it will be so much more fun destroying everything you love first." Jaha nods his head and the first assassin tears out Charlotte's throat. The scream that escapes Clarke's lips isn't human, but the cry of a wolf who has felt the pain of yet another pack member ripped from her.

Jaha waits until Charlotte is long and truly dead before he lets her go and disappears into the woods leaving Clarke crawling to the little body of Charlotte. Clarke reaches her and she sobs as she pulls the little girl's head into her lap and gently smooths the hair around her head. Blood coats her hands. Blood coats the ground and covers Charlotte's body. As much as she wants to bite her wrist and share her blood with her, she knows it's too late and nothing will bring back the child lost.


	15. Chapter 15

Part XV

*Bellamy's POV*

Bellamy goes to bed after his shift. He worries about Raven on guard duty alone and Clarke resting in her bed. He feels off, like something wrong or bad is going to happen, but he lets it slide. He should be on edge. If Clarke was truly as scared as she had appeared to be, then he should be worried. He tries to put it aside and finds he is truly exhausted as he falls fast asleep.

Bellamy is rudely shaken awake to the moronic sounds of Miller roughly whispering his name.

"What? What?" Bellamy opens his eyes and rubs down his face. His eyes are glossy with sleep and his mind is jumbled.

"Clarke's gone. She's run off. We need to go get her before something happens to her. Charlotte is also missing." Miller's voice is somewhat frantic, but it is clear that he is trying to hold it together.

"What happened to Raven?" Bellamy, now awake looks around the room. Octavia is still asleep beside him.

"Clarke commanded her not to alert us I'm guessing. She just woke me up and let me know that we were without an alpha. We need to go. Something's going to happen to her. She's going to do something stupid." Miller took off away from Bellamy before Bellamy had time to truly process what was happening.

Clarke was gone. She'd gone off somewhere, but hadn't been taken. She was going to do something stupid. Clarke, his partner was in danger and he could feel it. Who knows how long of a head start she'd gotten. Did Raven even know where she'd gone? Was it even particularly safe to go after her? And would it be better to leave everyone else here alone or bring them all along. He needed to talk to Raven first before he made a rash decision.

"Raven, tell me what you know." Bellamy silently slips out of the room and closes the hotel door after him. Raven was waiting in the hall for him. Bellamy tries to keep his voice calm. He doesn't want the worry for his partner to slip into his words.

"Clarke has done something stupid and she is meeting Jaha. Where I cannot tell you. I have been forbidden from answering certain things." Raven grits her teeth obviously angry over this.

"So she's run off. And you can't tell me where. Why did it take you so long? She's had an hour head start." Bellamy grows angry, but takes a deep breath because he knows Clarke was smart enough to command Raven not to tell them she had left or where she'd be going. It was lucky Raven herself was smart and had somehow figured a way out of the command. "Sorry."

"It's alright, just tell me you're going after her." Raven says, concern clearly written on her face.

"Is it smart to go right after her? We need to decide if we go just the three of us or if we get everyone up and go after her. Which is safer? You know this man best. Is this going to be some kind of trap for Clarke and us if we go?" Bellamy asks. He needs to know that his sister will be safe if they leave her here or if they bring all of them with them. As much as he truly cares about Clarke, he needs to know his sister, most of all, will be safe.

"They will be safe here. It's public and the assassins won't risk an attack here. But Clarke is alone and vulnerable. If you wish to stay, stay and I'll go follow Miller. You can stay here and look for Charlotte because she is also missing." Raven grumbles. "Now if we are done here, I'd like to leave."

"Fine. Only you and I will go. I need everyone else here to protect the pack. I'd go alone but you have a blood bond to Clarke. We'll need that to know if she's alright." Bellamy decides and faces Miller who he knows will protest. With one look he silences the beta.

After a few minutes, Raven and Bellamy are on the way to find Clarke. Bellamy is following Clarke's scent trail. Raven in turn, forbidden from following Clarke, follows Bellamy instead, all the while keeping tabs on her blood bond. Running as fast as they can, they race against the clock. Raven tells Bellamy more about Jaha and Bellamy is even more disgusted and horrified with the man. He doesn't want Clarke anywhere near him.

Two and a half hours or so later, Bellamy and Raven come across another scent, one that is distinctly Charlotte's. Bellamy figures Charlotte must have followed Clarke, but he cannot be relieved. The girl was only twelve and could barely defend herself let alone help protect Clarke who was willingly giving herself over to the man who tortured her.

Twenty minutes after that, Raven freezes and Bellamy stops beside her. Bellamy can feel the terror she is expressing as she looks ahead to about thirty metres ahead where Jaha stands, holding a knife to Clarke's throat and little Charlotte is held by the assassins. There is nothing Bellamy or Raven can do as Clarke pleads for the life of Charlotte. Bellamy wants to rush forward, but he is outnumbered. He would need to do this smart. As much as he wanted to, he couldn't just rush in there.

But he's too late as Charlotte's throat is slit and her blood sprays everywhere while Clarke's scream is heard for miles.

Jaha disappears into the trees and Bellamy and Raven rush forward the moment he is gone.

"Clarke! Oh God, Clarke." Bellamy comes running out of the clearing and races to her side followed by Raven. Only Bellamy gets close enough to sit beside her and pull her close. She stops crying and just sits there against him for a few moments before she wipes her eyes and stands to her feet.

"He will pay for what he has done." Clarke announces before she falls silent and there is nothing more Bellamy can do to ease Clarke's breaking heart.

*Raven's POV*

Raven watches the pair together, knows something is up. She's known for days now. Something had changed, but she couldn't figure out what.

"Bellamy, we should go," Raven makes her way to Clarke's side, ever the dutiful second. She lightly touches Clarke's arm and squeezes, letting her know she's here.

"I'm not going back, not yet," Clarke mumbles before falling silent again. Raven knows her alpha is slipping inside her own mind. She's going to need time to process all the deaths amongst them. Raven herself is going to need time to process the deaths. She hadn't come to terms with it yet. It had seemed all fight or flight. She wasn't sure when it would cease to be fight or flight. All that really mattered was taking care of her alpha and so that's what she would do. She'd help Clarke through this and when she did that, Clarke would in turn help her through it.

"How did you come after me? I forbid you." Clarke asks, breaking the silence.

"I didn't follow you, I followed Bellamy who just so happened to be following you." Raven smirks.

"Clever." Clarke answers, no smile or any hint of emotion of on her face.

"C'mon, let's go to a motel for the night. Then we'll get you all cleaned up." Raven soothes her best friend, one of the strongest people she knew. There is blood dripping down Clarke's neck from where the knife had rested. Blood on her hands and chest from where she held the little girl. Clarke seems not to have noticed, her mind elsewhere.

"Okay," Clarke sighs and falls into step beside Raven who gently wraps her arms around the girl. Bellamy falls in behind.

They get a motel room half hour away, the closest place to where Charlotte had been killed. They had buried the body where it lay and placed a few stones on top to mark the grave. It wasn't much, but what more could they really do? The poor tiny little girl had always seemed so weak to Raven, but she reminded herself that the girl was only twelve and too young to be dealing with any of this. Hell all of them were too young to be dealing with all of this.

*Bellamy's POV*

Hours after, Bellamy hasn't slept. He's worried about his sister. Was she still safe? It had been a full night since he had been at her side ensuring she was safe. Would the assassins defy the rules and go after the pack while the alphas were away? Bellamy had heard what Jaha had told Clarke at the end; that he would destroy everything she loved before her. They needed to get back to the pack so he could get to his sister. He'd never forgive himself if something happened to his sister. It had only been eight hours since they had found Clarke in the woods and it was reaching mid-afternoon, but so much could have happened to her in that amount of time. Thinking of her right now, he could almost hear her voice.

No, wait, he listens. He hears her voice outside the motel room. But she was back in that other town with the rest of the pack. He was delusional. Or at least he thought he was until someone banged on the door.

Bellamy gets out of the chair he'd been sitting on while keeping watch and opens the door. There stands his curious sister and the rest of the pack members.

"What are you doing here?" Bellamy's voice rises angrily. How could she risk travelling through the woods with the pack for a couple of hours to meet him? "How'd you even find us?"

"I was worried. You weren't there when I woke up and Miller was freaking and people were missing. Aren't you happy I came to see you? I know it may have been a little reckless, but I'm sorry. I wanted to make sure you were safe and I brought everyone so we were safer that way." Octavia rambles on, but Bellamy hasn't been happier to see his sister. He pulls her in tight and grips her hard.

"Ow. I can't breathe, Bell. Let go please." Octavia coughs a little and he releases her.

"We'll get another room and we'll stay here tonight. We'll have to figure out some form of a plan." Bellamy is relieved his sister is here. He's relieved the pack is here. He never felt right splitting the pack apart and leaving them behind.

"A plan? Can you just tell me what happened? Where's Charlotte? We thought she'd be here with you." Octavia looks into the room eyeing the two sleeping forms of Clarke and Raven, but no third girl.

"Octavia, she didn't make it. I'll tell you what happened. Let's just get another room and I'll tell you all about it. Maybe we can go to the store and pick up some food for dinner."

"I'd like that," Octavia smiles and he smiles back.

An hour later they have a second room where the pack, save Clarke and Raven reside. Bellamy takes the time to inform them of what happened, only stating that Charlotte had been killed and a few tears are shed by Fox for Charlotte. Questions are asked, but Bellamy needs to talk to Clarke first. He needs to figure out the plan. So he goes to the room housing Clarke, but Raven shoos him away claiming Clarke is not able to talk at that moment. He looks inside and indeed, Clarke is once again in some unresponsive state and not sleeping like he'd thought. So he goes back to the room and takes volunteers that want to go to the store and get some food. Octavia, Monroe and Miller volunteer and they go.

*Clarke's POV*

Clarke thinks she's depressed. All these deaths are on her and she can't save anybody. She couldn't even offer up herself and make a deal. She is pathetic. She's a failure. Everyone around her suffers. She needs to leave them behind and maybe just off herself and she won't have to sit by and watch more of her friends die.

Her mother is cruel. Jaha is cruel. The world is cruel.

Clarke needs to get out of her head and she distinctly remembers a place she could go to where other people went when they wanted to get out of their heads. So far she'd been doing a good job of acting as the catatonic alpha. But it wasn't helping. Doing nothing wasn't helping her. She needed to do something. All she needed now was to find a way around Raven.

*Bellamy's POV*

Bellamy had literally left for an hour to go to the store and get some food and within that amount of time Clarke had gone missing. So had Murphy. Miller was frantic when they returned and Raven took up the post of boss pissing him off slightly. How had they managed to lose the practically catatonic alpha? More importantly where the Hell would she have gone off to?

"Everybody needs to calm down!" Bellamy yells, frustrated.

"She's gone and she doesn't have any protection." Miller announces what Bellamy already knows.

"Murphy's gone too," Monroe says from the back of the motel room.

"Nobody cares about fucking Murphy." Raven yells. "He's a coward who probably just ran off to lead the assassins' right to us. Don't look at me like that, you know it's probably true. Whose scent was all around Wells murdered body? Hm? He's knew about it and didn't tell anyone!"

"Murphy wouldn't do it. He makes a lot of threats, but he'd never kill someone or bring the assassins to our door!" Monroe yells back.

"Enough." Bellamy commands. He uses the deep voice Octavia had told him was quite scary and always made her listen. "We'll find Clarke. I've got an idea of where she went off to."

"Where?" Miller asks.

"She just lost a bunch of her friends. She's upset and needs to feel better. Where would you go?" Bellamy rolls his eyes. If Miller had taken a moment to think, he would have figured it out already. Clarke would have gone to a bar and because she was underage she probably went to the one bar that didn't ask questions. "I'm going to the dropship to get her and you are going to stay here. She doesn't need a party of anxious shifters crowding her."

"You can't be serious." Raven scoffs. "She needs a friend. You're not her friend. You're not even her pack mate!" Raven is clearly upset, but Bellamy means it. Clarke will be too overwhelmed if a group of them show up. He also knows that Raven doesn't mean what she said. Bellamy is as much Clarke's pack mate as Raven. Raven is just worried and upset.

"No, I need the both of you on perimeter watch. Keep an eye on everyone here and call me if something goes wrong. I programmed my number into your phone." Bellamy thinks now it was a good idea to get the disposable phones. He and Miller had gone out to pick them up earlier that day. Octavia had heard about them on a television show she had been watching. It seemed like a good idea, now Bellamy was sure it was a good idea.

He walks to The Dropship, the bar Clarke used to work at, hoping he was right and this is where she had gone. He knows it's almost a half hour walk away, but he's sure that is where she'd gone. He shows the bouncer the one piece of ID he carries and is waved inside. Bellamy first smells the heavy trace of alcohol and then the pheromones bouncing from each corner of the room. He doesn't know why the bar is so crowded right now as it's only just after eight o'clock. He is nearly attacked by two girls before he makes it to the bar.

"Have you seen a girl with blonde hair, blue eyes, she's about this tall?" Bellamy ask the bartender who is currently attempting to make five different orders. His eyebrows crease before he nods.

"Yeah, really hot. She's ugh, over there." The bartender nods in the other direction. Sure enough, Bellamy catches a faint scent and follows it until he reaches the far corner where Clarke is hanging out with three guys. Bellamy growls, but takes a deep breath. He is surrounded by humans and he can't afford to give his shifter genes away.

Bellamy pushes his way through the dance crowd, shaking off an eager young drunk girl. He makes his way to Clarke where she sits with three overenthusiastic men probably in their mid-twenties. He walks right up to the group and stands beside Clarke.

"What are you doing here Clarke?" Clarke is clearly surprised to be hearing Bellamy's voice. But her surprise shifts into laughter. She has clearly had something to drink. "How'd you even get in?"

"I used to work here remember? I know the code." Clarke giggles and takes a gulp of whatever drink the guy next to her has just passed her. "This is where sad people who want to feel better go. I wanted to feel better and I was sad."

"You shouldn't be out on your own, Clarke. It's not safe." It's clear Clarke is drunk and it's clear that these three guys are the ones doing it. Bellamy gently pulls Clarke to her feet so he can speak directly to her.

"I feel safe. I feel happy and bubbly and tingly all over." Clarke laughs and presses a hand onto the blonde guy's head smiling. Bellamy has to bite his tongue to stop himself from lashing out and ripping that guy's arm off.

"I can tell Clarke. I should get you home though. Everyone's worried." Bellamy presses a hand on her shoulder and smiles gently down at her.

"I'm not ready to go home." Clarke pulls away and sits back down on the bar stool she'd been seated on. "I feel good for the first time in months Bellamy. I finally don't feel like my heart is going to rip right out of my chest."

"She's not ready to go home yet buddy, so run along." One of the guys chuckles before moving a hand over to rub Clarke's thigh. Bellamy growls and has to force himself to calm down before he shifts and tears this guy's hand from his arm.

"Back off." Is simply what Bellamy says. His eyes are closed so that he can concentrate.

"Why, what you gonna do? The lady clearly doesn't want to go. Not with you." He grins and presses a kiss to Clarke's cheek where she smiles.

Bellamy has had enough. He rips the guy away from Clarke and shoves him hard enough that he falls over. "Let's leave that up to me." Bellamy answers getting a little less pissed off now that he got to toss at least one of the guys.

"What are you, my bodyguard now?" Clarke asks moving the other guy's hand off of her thigh to face off with Bellamy. Thank God.

"Something like that. Now c'mon. It's not safe for you out here." Bellamy grips her arm and begins to guide her forward. She is drunk and wobbly but he is able to get her walking with him.

Clarke begins walking and before he realizes where they are going, they stop in front of an apartment building. Bellamy looks at Clarke with a confused expression but she just gestures for him to go inside. Bellamy is led up the stairs, slowly, to the fourth level where Clarke leads Bellamy to the sixth door down the hall. He pushes it open. It had been unlocked and he automatically goes on defense mode. Yet nothing is waiting inside for them. Bellamy turns to Clarke and together they walk inside. There is a bed in the corner and a small kitchen. On the left side there is a little closet and on the right is a small bathroom.

"Clarke what is this place?" Bellamy asks.

"My old apartment. Guess I forgot I don't stay here anymore." Clarke shrugs and moves into the room. She goes to the bathroom and Bellamy watches her wash her face. Well at least Clarke will have a place to rest and to throw up if she needs. Bellamy takes a quick moment to call Raven on the disposable phone and tell her that he and Clarke wouldn't be back that night. He leaves it at that and hangs up the second Clarke exists the bathroom.

"Come here." Bellamy calls to Clarke and she walks up to him, less wobbly now. It was unfortunate that shifters metabolized alcohol faster than humans and it didn't last too long. "Lay down. You need to sleep and rest off the alcohol. I'll take the floor."

Bellamy pulls the covers back and helps Clarke into bed, folding the covers up over her.

"My bed is big enough for two. I'm not the only one who needs to sleep. Besides, I don't bite." Clarke giggles and Bellamy can't help but smile.

"I distinctly remember you telling me the exact opposite when you were on the back of my bike." Bellamy chuckles.

"Yeah, well I lied. A little. But I will warn you that I will steal the blankets so you'll have to get close or be cold." Clarke smiles and Bellamy hasn't seen that smile in as long as he's known her. A genuinely happy smile.

"I'll take the floor." He repeats. He can't risk anything. And he should probably take watch.

"You really don't have to. I'll be good, I promise." Clarke crosses her heart and pats the empty side of the bed beside her.

"Clarke…" Bellamy groans, this isn't easy.

"Oh c'mon you big baby." Clarke looks at him with a challenge in his eyes and who is he to refuse?

"Fine." Bellamy caves and gives in. He settles in next to her, but keeps to his side of the bed.

"Goo'night Bellamy." And suddenly she's out. Bellamy can't help but look over and watch her peacefully sleep. Little does he know this is the first night since her father died, she sleeps the whole night away.


	16. Chapter 16

Part XVI

*Clarke's POV*

Clarke wakes up gently and slowly from the most peaceful sleep she's had in months. Not a single nightmare. No night sweats. No restlessness. Just pure bliss. She wasn't expecting that. Maybe it was all the alcohol she drank. Maybe she was finally getting over her fears. There was no way in it was because she was finally feeling safe. Because she wasn't safe. None of them were. But maybe it was because she was comfortable…

Clarke slowly opens her eyes and looks around the room slowly. She's pushed up against the wall, the bed clearly not made for more than one person and then she remembers. Someone's beside her. No, not beside her, wrapped around her… Their arm is holding her pressed against their chest and their head is pressed into the place between her shoulder and her neck, their curls tickling her face.

She could get used to this, she thinks.

The person's arm wrapped around her feels so strong and safe. She feels comfortable and relaxed around them, unlike she had felt for the longest of times. She feels at ease for the first time in forever. Even with Wells death hanging over her she still felt at peace. She could like this, she thinks. She could want this. Maybe. One day. But her thoughts towards the future are brief.

The stranger, still asleep, snuggles closer and pulls her closer to his chest. His head gently rests against her neck and she doesn't want to move. Doesn't want to disturb him, but it is another day and she is a leader. Leader of a pack that needs her guidance. Leader of a pack that can't have her losing her focus.

"Morning princess," The stranger says and she realizes it's not some stranger, it's Bellamy. Bellamy mumbles into her neck, his lips brushing the skin over her pulse. Her eyes close in bliss. This was what she had always wanted at some point in her life. To feel safe and loved in another's arms, but she's not now. She's a leader. She is in the middle of a war. And this is Bellamy Blake of all people. She didn't want something with him. This was just weird and strange.

"No," Clarke shoves Bellamy away from herself, her heart breaking with the distance. She couldn't be interested in this, in anything like this. Besides being in the middle of a war, she was engaged. To a Grounder. For an alliance. One that would most likely need at some point. Her heart could only belong to herself. No one else. And this was Bellamy Blake. Not someone she was or would ever be interested in. Not that way. She'd been drunk and lonely. She would be in denial about the whole escapade.

"Clarke?" Bellamy asks, confused. He doesn't understand why she is pushing him away. She can't want this. Can't have this. This is not hers. She's known for a while. It's a leader's job to make sacrifices for the pack. This was no different. Clarke didn't want this. She was still drunk. She was confused. She was emotional. Wells had just _died_. Her heart and soul were weak and easily persuaded into things right now. She did not want anything like this. Especially not with _him_. He had just lost Roma she thinks. He's lonely. He didn't want her this way. She didn't want him this way.

Clarke leaps off the bed and rushes to the bathroom before something weird happens. Like he talks to her and looks at her all confused and betrayed. She brushes her teeth and quickly makes use of the toilet before looking herself in the mirror. Ugh, she looked horrible. Bags under her eyes. Pale skin. She definitely knew why everyone was looking at her with pitiful glances.

"Morning," Bellamy says as Clarke exits the bathroom. He doesn't retain his confused and betrayed look from earlier. He just looks like good old regular Bellamy. Thank goodness. Clarke can deal with regular smirking Bellamy.

They both slept in the clothing they had worn yesterday and neither had a change of clothes. Bellamy, Clarke has to admit does look quite handsomely disheveled in the morning. Curls awry. Eyes still slightly glazed. Shirtless. Shirtless? When had _that_ happened?

"Morning." Clarke quips. She wants out of here. She wants away from Bellamy because she doesn't want to be away from him. She wants to get as close to him as she was as she woke up. _No!_ She wants to get back to the pack. She needs to make sure they all made it. Why had she come back here? Of all the places she had gone, why her old apartment?

"Hungover?" Bellamy asks, a smirk spreading across his face.

"No." Clarke retorts with a snort.

"Liar." Bellamy answers, dragging himself out of bed.

"Look, we should get going. We have no idea what happened when we were gone. For all we know Raven burnt the motel to the ground." Clarke says. Besides she's still grieving and she wants to be around the other people who she cares for and trusts. The ones who understand the loss she is feeling. The ones who won't kiss her neck in the morning as she just wakes up. The ones who don't make her question her heart.

"Alright. Take a breath. We can go after I finish in the bathroom." Bellamy smirks, all traces of his earlier adoring gaze gone.

"You are not showering." Clarke says, they've got no time for that. Besides she doesn't want to think about that.

"Well considering I was just gonna shower…" Bellamy makes a big show of sighing. "I'll shower at the motel."

Clarke can't help but smile. Good old regular Bellamy can do that. He can make her smile in the times when no one else can.

"There's extra toothbrushes in the drawer." Clarke says as she goes to make the bed. Not that she ever planned to be back, but well, she needed to do something, otherwise she would do nothing or think about something and then she'd be right back where she was yesterday or worse for wear. And frankly, the pack needed Clarke to focus right now. They'd been delayed four days because of her. It was time to move on. Time to get back to the plan. Time to actually make a plan.

Clarke takes a moment to relax her mind.

"Are you okay?" Bellamy asks, as he exits the washroom a few minutes later.

"I wish I could say I was, but I'm not." Clarke finally admits. She's sure everyone knows that due to her being practically comatose twice in the course of the week, that she wasn't alright, but admitting it out loud, that makes her feel better. Especially telling Bellamy. Talking to Bellamy seems to help now. She feels she can confide in him.

"Sometimes we lose battles to win the war. It's okay to feel lost about that. It's okay to feel scared Clarke." Bellamy walks over to her and she feels automatically comforted by his presence. She doesn't know why suddenly she feels such a close connection to her partner, as if he's known her for much longer than he actually has. And that scares her. She's never felt something like it before and she doesn't know how to react.

"I just feel like I'm losing everything. I feel like we're never going to win a single battle. Bellamy, I almost died. You and everyone else have almost died. If we don't get out of here, we're all going to die. Soon. Yet, I don't want to leave. Wells he was with me here and I feel like if we leave, I'll be leaving him behind and I just-" Clarke stops herself before she breaks down again.

"Clarke, it's okay to feel that. When I left with Octavia, I didn't know what was going to happen to my mom. I just knew that she had been arrested and I had to help my sister. But I always knew that even if she wasn't physically with me, she was always right here," Bellamy presses his hand to Clarke's chest. "Just like Wells, Charlotte, Atom and your father."

Clarke nods and steps back from Bellamy, wiping her eyes.

"I'm sorry. I don't mean to be an emotional wreck or anything, but I can't seem to control my emotions around you," Clarke pauses for a moment to collect her thoughts and gather the strength to say what's on her mind. "You, you make me feel safe Bellamy. Safer than I've felt in a long time and I don't know why, but it confuses the hell out of me."

"Clarke…" Bellamy looks at her and all she sees is pity in his gaze. And she can't deal with that right now. Not with even Bellamy now looking at her that way.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to drop that on you. Just ignore what I just said." Clarke turns away from Bellamy, but he places a hand on her shoulder. He gently tugs on her shoulder, making her turn around to face him again. But she won't look him in the eye. She can't see that pitiful look on his face. Bellamy lightly touches her chin and lifts it to meet his gaze. It's not pitiful, not again. Instead he is looking at her with an adoring look, one that seemed like he understood what she was saying. That was almost worse.

"Clarke, don't apologize for that. Don't you dare apologize for telling me how you feel," Bellamy keeps a gentle hand on her chin while the other moves to her waist. "I understand it. Clarke I feel safe around you too. Okay? You can trust me Clarke. Just like I know I can trust you."

"Thank you." Clarke once again nods and feeling uncomfortable with how close they are she backs away reminded of how close they were this morning. She must harden her heart or she won't survive the next murder.

"Clarke…" Bellamy reaches for her as she pulls away.

"No Bellamy. Thank you, but no." Clarke shakes her head and makes for the other side of the room. She leaves Bellamy standing behind her. But she can't feel anything like that. She can't risk her heart breaking again. Can't risk losing the rest of the fragments of her heart and soul. Not to him.

*Bellamy's POV*

Bellamy hadn't said anything, not yet, but he remembered how the pair had woken up. He remembered waking up beside Clarke, his arm wrapped around her. He had pretended to be asleep for a few minutes before Clarke herself woke up and nearly threw him off the bed. It had felt good. Good to wake up beside her, knowing she was safe with him. He wanted to express just how safe she made him feel, how comfortable she made him feel, but he wasn't about to. Clarke didn't want that and he would respect her wishes.

"Now, we don't speak about this to anyone. Nothing happened here at all. Nothing, got it?" Clarke turns on him, now a determined look in her eyes. Clearly she wants to forget, but he's not going to. What was so bad about waking up beside him, wrapped in his arms? That was accidental, but Clarke was clearly not taking it that way. Unless she was feeling something too. Something like the feeling of hope he had felt waking up beside her.

"Why? Something to hide princess?" Bellamy smirks and taunts her. He knows he really shouldn't, but her words hurt. Not talk about this, about what? Did she not want to remember waking up beside him? Here he'd thought she had felt comfortable waking up next to him. Sure he hadn't meant to get all tangled up with her, that was just how he slept, but he had felt some kind of connection. Had been feeling some kind of connection to her ever since the night he had healed her with his blood.

"No, I just don't want people getting the wrong idea." Clarke holds her hands pressed at her side. She quickly grabs a bag and stuffs it full of what looks like art supplies before heading to the door. Bellamy quickly falls in behind her.

"The wrong idea about what princess?" Bellamy continues to taunt. He knows it's a little cruel, but he's enjoying dragging this out of her. He wants to understand why she is so afraid of anyone thinking something is going on. Perhaps she is trying to convince herself that there is nothing between them, meaning she thinks there is something between them. God Bellamy hoped she was feeling the same way he was.

"Nothing." Clarke pinches the bridge of her nose, a movement Bellamy has become accustomed to when she is annoyed. "Look, I'm engaged. To a Grounder for an alliance. I have don't have the free will to choose someone to give my heart to."

"An alliance that we aren't going to honor." Bellamy feels the rage pumping through his body. Nothing? That's what was between them? There was more than nothing and Bellamy was furious that she had said nothing was between them. There was a connection between them, a string tugging them closer together.

"Yet. Not yet. That doesn't mean we aren't going to honor it ever." Clarke's voice raises an octave.

"Really Clarke? That's it? You won't admit what happened was something more than just nothing? That there is something more than nothing between us? I know you feel something, otherwise you wouldn't be so defensive." Bellamy was growing angry. She couldn't just deny the chemistry they were gaining each day they spent together.

"It was nothing Bellamy and we need to forget it ever happened. I'm an alpha Bellamy and being an alpha means sacrificing things for the pack. You should know that as well as me. I have to sacrifice things for them because they come first. Not me. Not my happiness. Not my wants. I know you understand that." But Bellamy didn't. He did, but he didn't. He could see where she was coming from, could understand it. Yet he was selfish in this matter. He wanted what he wanted. And what he was suddenly realizing was that what he wanted, was Clarke.

"It wasn't nothing Clarke, but I'll respect your wishes. No one will hear about the nothing that happened." Bellamy spits out. It wasn't like they had sex or anything, but apparently this was some big deal to Clarke. They had simply slept beside each other and he had kissed her neck. But it had clearly scared her off and he could wait. He would wait.

He falls in behind Clarke as she exits the apartment building and the pair make their way back to the motel. Bellamy hopes that Miller and Raven didn't burn the place to the ground. When he'd been getting ready to leave the two betas had been scratching at his back begging to come and been frantically expecting to get to search for Clarke. It had probably been a mistake to spend the night here with Clarke instead of going back, but what could he do? The girl had been drunk and he'd been tired and it had just felt right.

Bellamy thinks to check his phone. He hadn't checked it all night and once Clarke had come out of the bathroom, he'd just kind of turned the volume off. Checking, he sees he's got about 40 new calls from the phone back with the pack. He was going to get into shit from them for not answering. He cringed a little, thinking of what Raven might do to him.

"Clarke, I just want to warn you. When everyone found you gone, they kind of panicked. When I left without them, well they didn't take that well and us not turning up last night probably didn't help with that." Bellamy says as he falls in beside Clarke, no longer trailing just behind her.

"I know. They can be a little overboard with the me kind of stuff. Just ignore them. I do." Clarke smiles with a glint in her eyes before turning away from Bellamy's gaze.

"You're smiling." Bellamy says, not realizing he has said it out loud until Clarke replies.

"Yes, I'm happy. A little pissed at you, but overall I'm happy." Clarke looks into his eyes.

"Good. It just seems like you've been in a gloom for a while and now you're smiling and I haven't seen that smile." Bellamy feeling the positive aura waving off of Clarke, smiles with her. He is genuinely glad she is feeling happy.

"I only seem to feel like this when you're around." Clarke answers somewhat confused and Bellamy freezes. What did she mean by that? Hadn't she just said to forget what had happened at the apartment? How could she say something like that and expect him to do nothing? But there is no time to ask as they reach the motel and Raven runs right out to them. Almost as if she'd been keeping an eye on the window the entire night.

Raven runs straight for Clarke and pulls her into a tight hug. "Oh God, Clarke. We thought something had happened and then Bellamy didn't answer when we called and we thought the worst, but Monroe and Octavia said it would probably be best just to stay here and wait because we didn't know and I was so scared…"

"I'm fine Ray, just fine." Clarke squeezes back and Bellamy steps away and lets the two reunite.

Bellamy walks off to find his sister, wanting to make sure she didn't get all destructive, but luckily nothing seems to have been burned down.

"Bellamy!" Octavia rushes towards him, wrapping him in a giant hug. "I thought something happened. I tried to call you and you didn't answer and then I got worried. I tried to keep everyone calm, but those guys," Octavia points to the remaining shifters of Clarke's pack all now outside greeting Clarke, "Were going crazy. None of them slept or anything. So where were you huh?" Octavia gives him a light shove, her eyes clearly a little angry.

"Clarke was at a bar and she took me to the building she was staying at before." Bellamy answers.

"Oh? So you spent the night with her." Octavia raises an eyebrow and gives him some kind of knowing look, but it is misplaced because nothing happened.

"Nothing happened O, get your head out of the gutter." Bellamy shoves her back.

"Oh sure." Octavia rolls her eyes but smirks as she walks away.

Bellamy looks over to where Clarke is standing with her friends and he can't help but smile. But Bellamy couldn't have his sister thinking something was going on between him and Clarke. Nothing was going on. Nothing was going to happen, not with the way Clarke was going. Bellamy could respect her wishes. He had self-control. Although, he had thought, briefly, what waking up beside her every day could be like…


	17. Chapter 17

*Clarke's POV*

Minutes after Clarke arrives and her pack has finished swarming her, they head inside. Everyone asks her how she is, what happened, why she didn't come back. Clarke doesn't have answers for them, doesn't want to have answers for them. Clarke doesn't want to speak about how she failed again. Failed Charlotte. Failed to trade herself for her pack members. Failed to keep her heart out of things. So she leaves and forbids any of her pack members from following her.

Clarke can't be in that room any longer. Everyone looking at her with pitiful glares, asking if she's okay over and over again. She can't think in there. She doesn't even care that something could happen. Doesn't care that she forbid anyone from coming after her. She wants to cry, but she knows that tears won't bring Wells back. Tears won't fix her broken heart.

She walks fast around the motel. She just wants to be alone, something she hasn't gotten to do in a long while. Everyone considers her needing protecting and she is about done with it. She wants time to be alone with her thoughts. She wants to think things through. Think through how best to protect her pack. Protect her heart.

Picking up her pace a little faster, she runs into the woods. She stops suddenly and just takes in some deep breaths forcing the tears to stay dormant. She wouldn't cry. She wouldn't break down. Not anymore. She had to become accustomed to loss. This was just the way. She would lose more before the war was won.

Clarke takes more deep breaths. She needs to refocus her mind.

She's lost her friends, lost her pack members and is still no closer to rescuing the rest of her pack. She feels helpless. She feels too young to have to be dealing with all of this. She feels too overwhelmed right now. Feels there is too much injustice here. And she remembers that Wells wasn't killed by the assassins, but by his own father, the man she fears above all others. And she feels afraid all over again. How is she supposed to cope when there are assassins and now another monster murdering her friends? All of her thoughts go towards the pack members she's lost and to the ones they have yet to lose. The ones she knows aren't going to survive this.

Clarke knows she needs to take charge. She needs to plan something. Go on the offensive. If they can just figure out where Jaha is hiding. Figure out where the assassins sleep. Maybe, just maybe they could take one out. Taking one out wasn't much, but maybe it would send the knowledge to her pack that they weren't unbeatable. That they could be killed. They could learn to work as a team. It would be something they could accomplish until Jaha left town or by some miracle died or something. While he was here they couldn't go to the safe house.

Clarke turns her head around as leaves crunch behind her. She turns to yell at whomever followed her, but it's not anyone she thought it would be.

Finn faces a stunned Clarke. She hadn't expected him to show up. Hadn't expected him for a while. But maybe he had been following her in the shadows. Maybe she could convince him to help her plan.

"Finn, what are you doing here?" She doesn't bother asking how he'd found her. Finn wasn't known as the best Sky Cru tracker for nothing. He had probably followed them through the night and waited to get Clarke alone.

"Just making sure you're alright. Are you alright Clarke?" Finn gently asks, making his way towards her.

"No, but I probably never will be. I'm alive though." Clarke answers taking in the familiar scent of the boy she'd once called friend. "We never buried Roma," Clarke silently says. Her heart breaks for the girl who didn't get to live, the one they didn't get to bury. She cares that they had a duty to Roma, to bury her and let her find peace and they had failed in yet another department.

"I did, princess. I did. Don't worry." Finn moves towards her and pulls her in for a gentle hug. She's never felt gladder to see him, to have him close. She may have thought him a traitor, but he had been a good friend of hers when she had been living with her pack. He'd always been kind to her and he had been Raven's boyfriend for years, so Clarke considered him a good friend. Even after the mishap between them, she'd still consider him at least a friend.

"Finn, thank you," Clarke whispers, gathering her thoughts. "Do you plan on staying?" Clarke asks gently as she pulls away from the hug.

"Good question." Clarke snaps her gaze towards Bellamy who is standing ahead of her, his arms crossed against his chest. She hadn't noticed him there. She immediately feels guilty for some reason. Feels guilty being caught in Finn's arms. Yet there is no reason for it. She shouldn't feel guilty for hugging a friend. Clarke is not with Bellamy, they are friends and that is it. Yet the look he gives Finn says otherwise.

Finn growls behind her and goes on the defensive. Clarke hushes him and presses a hand against his chest. Bellamy, Clarke notices has also gone on the defensive. Finn was no alpha male, but he was definitely not someone to be overlooked. Bellamy somehow sensed this. Bellamy stared down Finn until Clarke had had enough of the testosterone. No one was going to fight today.

"Enough." Clarke says quickly before a fight breaks out over nothing. Clarke looks between the two males. Finn's eyes never leave Bellamy. Bellamy's eyes never leave Finn. Both seem to sense the other sending some form of challenge, one she isn't sure of.

"I told you, I hunt in the shadows. I've been following you and keeping an eye out. I'm sorry about Charlotte, Clarke. If I'd known you were going to meet with him, I would have stopped you." Finn answers, but Bellamy doesn't look satisfied.

"Again, do you plan on staying? Clarke doesn't need your protection, she clearly has all the protection she needs here from us." Bellamy's eyes are beginning to glow with what Clarke can now see as anger, jealousy or maybe a mixture of both. He is standing incredibly stiff and tall, showing off both his strength and height.

"Bellamy, please." Clarke snaps. "Finn, I'm grateful you found me, but you should leave. If Raven catches you here, she'll tear you a part. I may have forgiven you, but she hasn't."

Finn's face falls. "I'm sorry Clarke. For the trouble I caused you. I never apologized for what I did. I tried to apologize to Raven right before you left, repeatedly, but… Doesn't matter. Just know, if you need me, I'm a call away. I'll always protect you Clarke, always." Finn brushes a hand against her arm before turning a hard gaze on Bellamy. A small growl escapes his lips before he shifts into a caramel and white coloured wolf and gallops away.

"Do I want to know what that was about?" Bellamy asks, walking up to Clarke's side pressing close to her side almost possessively.

"No, probably not. It doesn't matter now. It's over. And me crying… that's over too. It's time for me to be an alpha to this pack. Be the alpha this pack needs. There are eight of us left Bellamy. All eight are going to survive." Clarke lets out a deep breath, preparing herself to harden her heart. She would have to in order for her and her pack to survive this.

"Don't lock your emotion away Clarke. We all need to think with our head and our hearts." Bellamy faces Clarke and stares into her eyes. She wanted to listen, but her emotions would need to go on hold for a good chunk of time. Just until her friends were safe.

"Thank you for your opinion, but I didn't ask for it." Clarke snaps, feeling guilty instantly. She hadn't meant for it to come out so harsh, but now that it was out, there was no taking it back. Clarke knew that she would need to harden herself around Bellamy in particular. If that morning had been any indication, she was losing her way. She was growing feelings for a boy who shouldn't matter to her. He and his pack were helping her rescue her pack, then who knew. Once Abby was taken down, Bellamy and his pack might not even stay around…

"Clarke, I'm serious." Bellamy meets her gaze, and presses a hand to her arm. Clarke instantly feels relief. "Heart and head. You'll never be the alpha you want without both."

Clarke shrugs his arm and the feeling off and walks off the way Finn ran.

*Lincoln's POV*

Lincoln had lost them for a few days, but he had found them only hours ago. It's Clarke's scent he notices first, back in the Dropship. He had gone back for a last shift before he left town for good in search of the pack and by sheer luck, he'd run into a drunk Clarke. The relief running through his veins couldn't be described. If he had lost them, he would have to report to his commander that he had done so and not many lived to tell that tale.

Lucky for him, he had noticed her shortly before Bellamy Blake arrived and took her out of there. He'd been able to follow them to the apartment Clarke had been staying in before she'd run off with the Blakes. What the two had gone there for, Lincoln hadn't been sure. Clarke hadn't returned to that place since she'd found the Blakes. Only Clarke would truly know for sure why they went there. Lincoln found no trace of any of the other members of Clarke or Bellamy's packs. What he did notice, was something was different between the two alphas. Something had changed. Both of their scents were off. Similar. But Lincoln wasn't quite sure why.

The following morning, Lincoln watched the pair as they exited and followed them until they reached a motel about half hour away. There, Clarke was greeted by her pack and Bellamy, by his sister. The sister Lincoln couldn't get out of his head. It was even worse now that he'd had contact with her and felt her breathe against him. Smelt her scent envelope the place he lived. But he couldn't have her. He wasn't like her. He couldn't promise her safety. He couldn't promise her anything.

Lincoln watched Clarke take off and Bellamy soon follow her. He thought about following the pair, but they didn't interest him, so instead he waited and watched as the darker skinned beta girl came outside with the darker skinned beta male. Both seemed agitated, but Lincoln didn't really care why. He was here to watch, evaluate and send information. Nothing more. Yet as he watched the brunette girl, Octavia Blake walk out and disappear into the woods after her brother no doubt, he couldn't just stand watch. He followed.

He stayed far back enough that she wouldn't smell him there or hear his footsteps. But every step closer made him want to run to get closer. The scent she left behind with every footstep bullied Lincoln's senses into getting distracted. In his distraction, he didn't realize the pretty brunette stopping and waiting for him to catch up.

"You're following me again." She says as Lincoln realizes where he is and the fact that her scent overpowered him into not realizing where he was going. That was dangerous. "Why?"

"You intrigue me," Lincoln answers honestly. He wants to know this girl. He wants to touch her. He wants to breathe her scent in as it envelopes his body. There is so much more he wants to do. Wants to, but can't. He must restrain himself.

"I intrigue you…? You intrigue me, Lincoln." The way she says his name makes him want to fall at her feet. "Why are you here?"

"I'm making sure you're safe. I have to make sure you're safe." Lincoln watches Octavia as she bites her lip and gives a coy smile.

"Why am I so important to you? You seem to know I'm different, but you aren't afraid of me. What does that make you?" Octavia seems to be thinking to herself briefly. She takes a few steps closer to Lincoln and peers into his eyes, looking for something. He doesn't know what.

"I don't know. Everything feels more heightened when you're around. All of my senses seem sharper. You make me want you." Lincoln watches her predatory gaze search him as he reveals to her what he had only just understood himself.

"You know Lincoln, I never properly thanked you for saving me." Octavia moves closer to him and he takes one step backwards, wanting to take more, but being unable to. "You move away, yet you aren't afraid of me. What is it you fear?"

Octavia looks curious as she approaches Lincoln and does a slow circle around him.

"I can't seem to figure you out Lincoln. What are you that you can smell my scent yet bear no remarkable scent of your own? Why do you not fear me when it is so clear you do not belong to my species? Something in me tells me not to fear you. Can I trust that instinct?" Octavia stops a foot away from Lincoln, face to face with him. The innocence in her gaze makes Lincoln want to back off right now. He doesn't want to drag her into a war she won't be able to win. But he can't help it as he reaches forward for her and pulls her to his chest. She smirks seconds before his lips meet hers. Lincoln feels an instant connection, as though he'd known her much longer and more intimately than he did. As he pulls back and looks into her eyes, he knew she felt the same.

"Octavia!" A voice Lincoln recognizes as Bellamy Blake's calls out ruining the moment and he gently pushes her away.

"You should return to your brother." Lincoln watches her face fall, but insists he will not let himself be overcome by her again. He can't lose his resolve around her, not again. He would be risking too much. She could never find out what he was. She would never accept him.

"Lincoln," Octavia reaches out for him. She is gently biting her bottom lip and her eyes seem to be pleading with him to stay.

"You should leave. It's not safe to be on your own, not in these woods. Predators that would hunt you down still remain here."

"I have nothing to be afraid of as long as you're here." Octavia steps closer again and Lincoln has to take every inch of self-control in his being to not close the gap and press his lips on hers once more. "Besides, most predators run scared when I arrive." Octavia shows her sharpened canines and glowing eyes.

"Take this and go. Please. There is only so much I can protect you from." Lincoln reaches into his pocket and pulls out a white flower. A flower that grew by his home in the woods. A flower he hoped she would take and remember him with. This was going to be the last time they spoke. Lincoln hoped. He had to keep to himself if he wanted to protect Octavia. His commander would love to get her hands on any shifter she could. Lincoln wouldn't allow it to be Octavia she grabbed next.

"Thank you." Octavia takes the flower gently. She turns and begins walking away and he focuses on his hands to chase away the need to run after her. But she turns back, runs towards him and kisses him passionately before whispering in his ear, "That's for saving my ass in the woods and to convince you to find me again."

Octavia takes off with a wink and disappears as Lincoln watches her leave. As she disappears from view, Lincoln can't help but think that he was screwed. He'd never be able to leave that girl alone. He'd always want her. That kiss only proved what he thought to be true. That girl was his mate and he was determined to claim her. Not yet though. First he had to find a way to see her again.

*Raven's POV*

Raven was powerless to go after Clarke, she'd been commanded not to. Luckily though, twenty minutes later, Clarke appears back through the door to the motel room. Raven stands up and greets her alpha, her best friend.

"You alright?" Raven asks gently, pressing a hand against Clarke's shoulder. She knew her best friend was carrying the weight of the worlds on her shoulders.

"I am. It was just getting stuffy in here. I needed to think in peace for a bit. I figured out a plan." Raven is thoroughly intrigued.

"And what plan might this be?" Raven bounces to her feet.

"I can't make a deal, maybe I was naïve in thinking so. But we're going to show we're not afraid. Show Jaha we will fight back. I want to find an assassin and kill it." Clarke says, her face serious. But she couldn't be serious. That was a suicide mission.

"You're not serious are you?" Raven asks. She couldn't be serious. An assassin? No one would go for that plan.

"I am. I mean it, Raven. Think about it. How much would moral go up if we took one of those things out? If we can prove to the pack and to ourselves that we can kill one, then nothing will seem impossible." The look on Clarke's face says she is dead serious. Yet Raven can't help but wonder why she was thinking of doing this now. The assassins were just as dangerous today as they had been yesterday.

"But Clarke, those things are basically death machines. No one could get close enough." Raven answers, thinking to herself, this was definitely suicide. The assassins carried automatic rifles and weren't afraid to use them. They would need to find out weaknesses and harder yet, find out just where they stayed.

"I know, but if we all work together, we can do it. I know we can. I'll talk to Miller about it, see what he thinks." Clarke says, a slight smile on her face. She probably thought she'd figured out a good way to get back at them, but Raven couldn't help but think about how many might be lost in the process if they didn't all work together.

"Okay. Just one other question, then hm?" Raven smelt his scent from the moment she walked in the door. She hadn't wanted to say anything until she knew Clarke was okay, but she knew now. And now she was a little ticked off. "Why is Finn's scent on you?"

"Raven, I, uh, ran into him when I was out thinking." Clarke sheepishly looks away. "I'm sorry I didn't outright mention it. I just didn't want you to get upset over it."

"Me, upset? No, I'm just a little angry." Raven grins and shows her teeth.

"I'm sorry. I mean it. We just talked I swear. He wants to help. He wants to hide in the shadows." Clarke uses air quotations. "He ran off after I told him, you wouldn't want to see him. But if you want me to bring him back, I'll send the signal and he'll come running. If you want to get a good punch in, let me know." Clarke grins right back.

"A good punch? Hm, that sounds pretty good. Is that punishment enough for kissing my best friend behind my back?" Raven rubs her chin thinking about how pissed off she'd been after she found out. The moment she heard that he kissed Clarke, she'd nearly broken Clarke's nose, but luckily she believed the girl when she said she'd slapped Finn the moment after she realized he was kissing her. Raven had forgiven Clarke, but not Finn. It wasn't too long after that Clarke left and Raven decided not to speak to Finn. Now she just really wanted to get in a few good punches.

"It might be. I swear though, he only apologized a few times over it. No other kissing from him. Bellamy did show up though. They had a kind of pissing contest for a moment. It was kind of funny." Clarke silently chuckles for a few seconds remembering the way the two had sized each other up.

"Did they now? Damn, too bad I missed it." Raven laughs and gently punches Clarke's arm. So that was what was going on. Raven had sensed something going on between her alpha and Bellamy and now it made sense. Bellamy was interested in Clarke, whether Clarke reciprocated it or not.

"No, there will be other chances." Clarke laughs and gently punches her best friend's arm right back. This, Raven knows to be true. Finn had become interested in Clarke and Raven, at the same time. Finn wasn't about to let go of either girl, Raven thought. Something had happened that night Bellamy had shared his blood with Clarke and Raven didn't know what, but what she did know is that things would be interesting in the days to come.

Raven's glad she'd found Clarke again, even with Finn back in the picture. She didn't know how she'd get on without her best friend by her side. Now facing the world together, Raven knew that she and Clarke could accomplish anything. Even killing an assassin.


	18. Chapter 18

*Octavia's POV*

Octavia follows the path to her brother's voice. She knows that maybe he'll be a little pissed that she'd gone off on her own again. No he would be pissed but Octavia didn't care. She was too busy thinking about the man she'd met in the woods for the second time that week. His scent of pine and Lincoln overwhelmed her and it had taken a good amount of effort to leave him behind. Octavia wanted to get to know him, to get to kiss him again. But she'd have to be secret about it. Bellamy would never allow her to meet with a man he didn't know and one that she herself was interested in. He'd seemed to sense that Atom was just a girl crush, because he hadn't really said anything about it. Lincoln, on the other hand… He was something else. Octavia didn't know what, but she wanted to. She hoped he would come and find her again soon. Otherwise she might just go looking for him herself. The pull was strong. The need to see him again. To kiss him. To touch him. To hear about his life. To stay by his side.

It scared her at the same time it intrigued her. Octavia had never felt something so strong before. She'd never really heard of a pull between people. Not like this. She wanted to ask Bellamy about it, but he'd never hear it. He'd know something was up, so she'd have to ask someone else. Clarke maybe? No, she had enough on her plate right now. Maybe she'd talk to Clarke's second, Raven. The girl seemed like she'd know things. Thing was, she kind of intimidated Octavia a little bit.

Maybe she'd wait a little while to ask about what the overwhelming need was.

The flower rested in her pocket. The white flower that Lincoln had given her as a reminder. But she knew, just knew in her whole being that wouldn't be the last time they would encounter one another. But god, she didn't want to wait.

"Octavia!" Bellamy calls again, much closer now. Octavia is almost to him. She can smell his scent wafting her way. She was preparing herself for the fight that would probably come.

"Bell, I'm right here." Octavia rolls her eyes and lets out a huff. "I know you're worried, but I was fine and I didn't go far, okay?"

"You trying to give me a heart attack?" Bellamy looks pissed off and Octavia wonders what's put him in such a bad mood. Maybe when he'd gone after Clarke, something had happened. Octavia worried about her brother and Clarke. She couldn't imagine what it was like to have to lead and worry about eight lives instead of one, or in her case two. Bellamy was the only family she'd had left and she would protect him. Or at least try to.

"No. I just wanted to get out of that room. There's too many people and it feels claustrophobic. You know how it gets for me Bell." Octavia remembers the days she was trapped in that house with just her brother and mother. Never being allowed to leave, not be able to shift without fear of the enclosed space.

"I know, I'm sorry. Just please don't go off without telling me. Jaha, the man who killed Charlotte and Wells, he's still out there. He's already threatened our lives and I can't lose you. Once we get somewhere safe, I promise you can run off to your hearts content. Just not here. Not yet." Bellamy runs a tired hand down his face and Octavia feels bad. Feels bad for making her brother worry about her. Feels bad that she is putting more strain on him. But she is her own person.

"I'll let you know if I run off again, okay?" Octavia smiles gently, telling herself that she would tell him, just not when she snuck off to meet Lincoln. That was something Bellamy would never understand. He'd never be able to part with his sister. Octavia knew this.

"I mean it O, if something happened to you, I wouldn't survive it. Got it?" Bellamy looks so serious in that moment and Octavia knows that she might give him a few more heart attacks before the month was out. She was seventeen after all and seventeen year olds pushed the boundaries all the time. Especially Octavia.

"I got it." She answers with a sigh.

"Good. Now c'mon, let's go meet up in the motel room. I have a feeling Clarke already made it there." Bellamy smiles and wraps an arm around Octavia's shoulders. He pulls her close and they walk together towards the rest of the pack.

*Clarke's POV*

Clarke walks with Raven out of the motel room. While she's walking, she's running various things though her mind. Kill an assassin. It seemed brilliant. Why not kill Jaha? He'd be too guarded. The other assassins would protect him if all else failed. An assassin though, they could take one of them out. As much as they worked as a team, they had their faults. Their weaknesses. If they could just take one out, they could possibly distract the assassins and Jaha long enough to get out of there without them on their trail. They needed to be safe and they couldn't be safe until the assassins were gone. They couldn't leave for their safe house until the assassins were off of their trail. Clarke would need information. Finn could probably offer them some of that information. They needed to do this because if they left now… the assassins would find their safe house. And if they stayed, they would all die.

Clarke would never let that happen.

Clarke finds Miller waiting around the corner when she leaves the room with Raven. Raven insisted on coming. Clarke thought it would be best to keep this idea between her most trusted pack mates until they decided what the best course of action would be.

"Clarke, hey." Miller smiles as she approaches. He gives a smile to Raven as well before he looks at her with the 'what's up' face.

"So I had a plan and I wanted to run it by you. Don't freak out when I say it, just think about it first. Okay?" Clarke looks Miller over, looks for the telltale sign that he has relaxed and is about to listen. When she sees it, she continues. "I want to find an assassin, a lone assassin. When we find it, we're going to kill it."

"Clarke, are you insane?" Miller brings a hand to his mouth as he looks off to the side, a hint of frustration in his eyes.

"No, I know it sounds absolutely insane, but if we work as a unit, like we always have, I just know we can take one down. I think if we go on the offensive, maybe show them that we aren't afraid, they'll back off a little. I just don't want to keep running scared. Maybe if we take one out, we can get them off of our trail for a little while. Then maybe we can run to our safe house." Clarke says, watching Miller's expression. Raven had already agreed to help. She needed Miller on board or they wouldn't be able to do this. Clarke wouldn't do it without him. She needed both of her friends, her best friends by her side.

"If you insist on doing this, then I'll be with you, at your side. Like always." Miller caves, gently pressing a hand on Clarke's forearm.

"Thank you." Clarke says with a sigh of relief. Now that she had her two best betas with her, she knew she'd be able to accomplish anything. The three were an unbreakable unit. A strong unit. A force to be reckoned with.

"So when are we going to tell Bellamy?" Miller asks.

"I don't know. Maybe we should do this on our own. We don't know how they work and we haven't worked with them as a team. At least the three of us know what we're up against and know each other's strengths and weaknesses." Clarke says.

"Well you know, maybe while we're looking into where the assassins are, we can learn about each other. Learn to work together." Miller says, looking a little shy about the suggestion.

"Maybe you're right. I don't think Fox will be able to do this with us. And we will need the numbers… How do you think we should go about this? Just up front ask? Bellamy isn't going to listen to me if I openly suggest we risk our lives again just to boost morale. Some of us could die and he isn't about to let that happen." Clarke can't think of how Bellamy is going to react. He could agree or he could fight her on it. Clarke didn't want to argue about it. If Bellamy said no, then he'd do what he could to stop Clarke and her pack from leaving. He was just the type to protect more than just his own. Clarke admired that in him, she found it in her own pack, but in this case, Clarke needed to gain this win. She needed to keep her pack safe. Needed to sacrifice as few lives as possible.

"Well why don't we just bring it up first and see how he reacts." Raven wisely brings to the table.

"Okay, so we bring it up and ask him what he thinks. Okay. What if he says no?" Clarke asks. Asking was just step one. Step two was getting him to agree or at least agree to let the three of them go. Clarke may have been an alpha, but her pack was outnumbered in strength by Bellamy's and if he wanted to stop her, he easily could.

"If he says no, we just go behind his back and do it without him knowing." Raven shrugs, a grin on her face.

Clarke grins right back.

*Bellamy's POV*

Bellamy and Octavia arrive into the room to notice that there is some kind of gathering they'd been unaware of. It seems as though everyone either decided to meet without them or just hadn't invited them yet.

"Did we miss the invite?" Octavia asks, a smile gracing her face as she gracefully slips away from Bellamy and joins a curious Raven on the bed. Raven just looks confused as to why Octavia had decided to sit beside her.

"No, we were actually waiting for you to get here." Clarke answers a sigh of relief clearly written on her features. "I took some time to think and I have a plan."

Clarke takes a moment to scan the room before announcing something Bellamy wasn't sure he'd ever hear anyone say. "We, Miller, Raven and I, want to go after an assassin."

"You're crazy," Murphy says from the back corner. He's stayed far away from Bellamy ever since their little fall out.

"If we can kill one, just think about what else we can do. I'll only be taking volunteers. No one has to come. I won't force anyone to risk their life. I will be going though and I will be killing an assassin. Whether I live to tell that tale, depends on how many of you join me." Clarke looks around the room, a serious expression presented on her face. Bellamy can't help but think she's either incredibly stupid or incredibly brave.

"I go wherever she goes, even if it's a suicide mission." Raven looks around the group, letting them know of her support of Clarke. "You always need some Reyes action backing you up," Raven smirks, giving a wink to Clarke.

"If it means I get to kill the one that shot at me, I'm in." Monroe speaks from the side of the room where she has sat beside Miller. The two, Bellamy notices have become closer. Good friends he would say. Miller nods in agreement beside her.

"If we play this smart, then maybe we can do it without anyone dying. Bellamy?" Clarke looks to the other alpha in the room, the one who hadn't said anything yet.

"You'll need some strength on your side. I'll help, but we do it my way. Any indication of too much danger and we leave." Bellamy says. He wouldn't risk losing a pack member. Not like Roma. He had kind of agreed because it seemed everyone was on the side of attacking, but in truth he didn't know what he really thought about it. He'd have to think it over and talk it out with Clarke. Probably in private.

"It'll be a little while before we can attack anyway. We need to gather intel on where they're staying and stuff." Clarke smiles gently, and Bellamy returns the smile. Enough time to hopefully convince Clarke and her pack and now Monroe that this was a stupid idea.

"I'm in too," Octavia says nodding beside Raven. What? He hadn't heard his sister right. She did not say she was in. That wouldn't do. His sister wasn't going anywhere near those things again.

"No. You're not going anywhere near those things O. I won't have it. They nearly killed you once, they won't do it again." Bellamy remains firm on the matter. He wouldn't lose his sister to those monsters. She would not be the next name they added to the list of the dead.

"I'm my own person Bellamy. I want to help." Octavia was stubborn, but so was Bellamy.

"No, you'll stay here with whomever stays. I want you out of this." Bellamy uses his alpha male stare down on her and she seems to loudly sigh before crossing her arms and looking away from him. He'd rather she be mad at him and alive, than dead.

"I love you Clarke, but I can't. You know I can't. Those things terrify me. I'll just slow you down," Fox trembles at the mention of the assassins and Bellamy can tell she'd only be a hindrance and a liability if she came so he's glad she wouldn't be going. He knew how terrified everyone was of the assassins and maybe like Fox, he could scare them all into thinking clearly.

"I'm out too. I'll stay with the living, thanks." Murphy snarks from the back corner again. Fine by him. If Murphy wanted to stay out of it, then so be it. Bellamy was still a little pissed at him over the Wells issue.

"Okay good. Then we'll start planning and getting intelligence. I'll see if I can contact Finn and see what he knows. If you have questions, ask Raven first. She knows what's going on." Clarke says, Raven, Bellamy notices gives her a somewhat angry look. He didn't know what it was about, but he didn't really care. All he cared about was making sure his sister stayed out of matters. If he knew her at all and he did, she'd do something stupid and find a way to join them if they did indeed go.

*Clarke's POV*

Clarke leaves the room, Bellamy on her trail. She can feel him behind her. She can feel that he is unsure yet determined. Clarke, herself is unsure. Unsure how this is going to work. Unsure how they will find the assassins. Unsure if she could lead her pack into what would likely be a death trap. But she is determined too. She is determined they will succeed. Determined that if they just work together, they will find a way to kill an assassin. She just needs to contact Finn and find out where the assassins are hiding out.

And she needed to make sure Jaha wasn't around when they did.

"What was that?" Bellamy calls out to her as she continues walking towards the woods. She is fully intending on contacting Finn right now. She needs to find the assassins as soon as possible.

"I had an idea. I thought I'd share it." Clarke continues on her way, trying to ignore that Bellamy is following closely behind her and a slight surge of anger begins to radiate off of him.

"Clarke stop," Bellamy grips her arm and stops her in her tracks. The adoring, cool gaze from earlier gone, replaced by that of a cold anger.

"Look, I need to contact Finn. He'll probably know something concerning the assassins." Clarke tries to pull away, but Bellamy keeps his grip firm.

"You didn't go over that with me. You just brought it up to the pack. Without my say so." Bellamy looks at her without the warmth in his eyes. He looks upset, like this wasn't her decision to make.

"It's up to them Bellamy, not just you and me. They deserve to know. They deserve to have a say in attacking or running." Clarke argues. Here she thought she had done the right thing. Of course, she'd had to have a private chat with her most trusted friends before she decided it was a good idea, but still. She'd brought it up so that each shifter could share their own opinion and not have only Bellamy and Clarke's opinion on the matter.

"You still should have said something to me first. We're alphas together Clarke. We need to work together. The decision rests with us first and foremost. The rest of the pack are betas for a reason. Octavia wants to go now and that's on you." Bellamy's eyebrows draw together as he confronts her. Maybe she should have. Maybe she should have talked to Bellamy first.

"I'm sorry I didn't talk to you first, I'm still learning to work with you. This pack, this pack shouldn't just run on our say so. We need the opinions of our betas so that we have their support. Including Octavia. She's a big girl Bellamy. She can make her own decisions. Just because you don't want her to, doesn't mean I can't let her." Clarke manages, finally, to pull away.


	19. Chapter 19

*Clarke's POV*

"Hold on," Bellamy makes to stop her and she whips around to face him.

"No, Bellamy. I get she's your sister. I totally understand. I'm protective of those I care about too. But there gets to be a point where you are crossing the line. She is seventeen Bellamy. She is old enough to make her own decisions. If you have a problem with that and I know you do, then talk it out with her. Start mediating with her about stuff instead of just trying to control her every move. She will grow to resent you if you do. Believe I know. You think you're helping and keeping her safe, but you're holding her back from real life Bellamy. And one day life will creep up on her and bite her in the ass." Clarke stares Bellamy down, knowing that at least she's said her peace. Maybe she is crossing the delicate line drawn between the two alphas, but she doesn't care. She wants to fight for Octavia and make Bellamy see that he cannot contain her. Octavia has a fire in her soul that would not be contained much longer. The more Bellamy chained it up, the sooner and harder that girl would revolt against him.

"Clarke, what if I never want her to experience the real world? What if I'm not ready to let her go yet?" Bellamy sounds so heartbroken in this moment and Clarke wants to take back what she said to make him feel better. But she can't. And she won't. He needs to face reality sometime. Just like her. Why not now?

"I know. Baby steps Bellamy. It's hard at first to let those you love and care about put themselves in the line of fire, but they will thank you for it later. Your sister is strong and capable. She will be okay Bellamy. I won't tell you what you can and cannot do with her. She's your sister and your pack member. But I will say that she will resent you if you never allow her to leave. You'll learn to trust her to take care of herself. And I promise you she will. She is just like _you_ Bellamy. That fire inside her will continue to grow. She needs an outlet or it will consume her. I had to let my pack learn the hard way and you'll have to let your sister too. She needs to make mistakes so she can learn Bellamy. The only way she can make those mistakes is for you to let her off the leash." Clarke pats his shoulder again gently. She wishes she could just stay and talk to him. She had once had that fire within her soul and being contained only helped nourish it.

"I'm sorry if I've over stepped Bellamy. I just don't want to see you lose her. I'll try to trust you more with the plans I have." She releases her hand from his shoulder and walks away.

Clarke can't waste time right now. As much as she wants to comfort Bellamy, she can't. It will only bring her closer to the feelings she has been denying. If she embraced those feelings… she didn't know what would happen. She had to lock them away and focus on the other task.

She needs to contact Finn. See what he knows of the assassins. See what he can find out.

Clarke walks a good hundred or so feet away from Bellamy before she calls to Finn. She calls his name twice before she hears a low howl in the distance alerting her to his presence. She waits for a few minutes until he arrives, cocking his head at her and gazing at her with his bright golden eyes.

"I need your help."

*Octavia's POV*

"So now that we're all sitting together, can someone please tell me what exactly has all happened and why we aren't just getting in a car and leaving for the house Clarke has?" Monroe asks from where she sits beside Miller.

After Clarke and Bellamy had left, it had grown quiet for a few minutes until Monroe asked the question that was on Octavia's mind. She knew Charlotte had been killed by the man named Jaha. She knew they were running from that man because he was pure evil, from what she'd gathered. But they had a chance now with Clarke's money to escape to the house that Bellamy had told her about. So why hadn't they left yet?

"Honestly? Jaha and the assassins." Raven mentions beside her. She focuses on Monroe with a slightly cold look. "If they are here, they are constantly tracking us. If we just hop in a vehicle and leave, they'll still follow us. We'll be leading them right to our safe house and then it won't be safe anymore." Raven rolls her eyes as if the answer was the most obvious thing in the world.

"No need for that, Monroe just asked a question." Octavia looks at the gorgeous girl with confusion in her gaze. How could this girl be so hard around everyone, only letting Clarke in? What had happened to her to be so detached and cold to everyone around her? Octavia's gaze has often lingered on the scars that creep out of the clothing Raven wears and wonders if she would even want to know.

"It was a stupid question." Raven grumbles. "But I'll play nice." She bares her teeth and smiles, a glint of something ferocious in her eyes. "Any other questions?"

"What happened to Charlotte?" Octavia asks. Being the youngest of the pack, Octavia had wondered what had happened to the little girl. No one had told her what had happened, just that she hadn't made it. Had she been killed by the assassins that had so nearly killed Octavia herself?

"Charlotte was murdered by Jaha to spite Clarke. Clarke tried to make a deal, her life for ours and he laughed in her face. He murdered Charlotte just like he murdered Wells." Raven growls, obviously angered by the ordeal. Pissed by the sounds of it.

"Jaha killed his own son?" Monroe asks, clearly shocked. That shock radiates in Octavia's own gaze. His own son? A man had murdered his own son? What kind of cruel monster did that make him?

"You want to know who you're up against, that's who. Nothing matters to him, but doing Abby's bidding. He doesn't care if you're a child, an innocent or blood. He will kill anyone who stands in his path. He has no remorse in his body. Not a day goes by that I don't think about what he did to us. What he will do if he ever gets his hands on us again." Raven seems to trail off with a hint of emotion behind her words and Miller stands to his feet. He walks over to Raven and whispers something in her ear. She nods and her expression once again turns back to the cold exterior she presents to everyone, but Clarke and Miller. "But that is beside the point."

"Point is, we can take out an assassin. We need to learn to work together, but once we do, we should be unstoppable. If we take out an assassin, there is a chance that the other assassins will be distracted long enough for us to escape." Miller sounds convincing, and Octavia believes they could really do it. She really wanted to be in on this. Would Bellamy allow her? Maybe she could consult Lincoln and get his help. He was strong and smart and he was definitely more mature than any of them. Maybe she could convince him to help them and maybe tell her what he was.

"So when do we start?" Monroe asks, eager to get training, as she always was.

"Why not now?" Octavia says, a smile on her face.

*Bellamy's POV*

Bellamy debated between going back to the motel to be with the pack, but Clarke was out here alone and he didn't trust this Finn guy. First he shows up to take her back to Abby and then suddenly he changes his mind? It couldn't be so simple. He had to have known what they were doing to Clarke under Abby. How could he have wanted her to return to that?

Plus, secretly he wanted to be around Clarke. He liked having her presence nearby. Half the time she drove him up a wall, but the other half– Oh the other half he wanted to kiss her senseless. He wanted to see if the feelings he felt around her were real or not. He also wanted to show Finn that Clarke was not Finn's like Finn had been indicating to him earlier. Clarke clearly belonged to herself, but Bellamy was ready to stake a clear claim of his own on her.

Bellamy follows her trail to where she is meeting with Finn. As he begins to see her blonde hair, he notices the dark haired, pale boy chatting with her, a grin on his face. That grin, one speaking of past and present desire, pisses Bellamy off. He had no real claim to Clarke. She wasn't his mate. At least he wasn't sure about that yet. Therefore she was technically able to be courted by any male she saw fit.

Bellamy didn't want her to be courted by any male though. Not one that wasn't him.

"I don't know Clarke, I'll do the best I can. I can't make any promises, but I'll give it a shot." Finn says, as Bellamy walks into the clearing. Finn stiffens at his presence and Bellamy grins. Good, he was intimidated.

"Bellamy?" Clarke takes a look at Finn and turns around to face him. Her eyes are filled with curiosity, and an eyebrow rises, but she turns back and continues.

"If you can find them, we'll take care of the rest." Clarke says, her body radiating hope. Bellamy knew she needed this fight. She needed to kill one of the assassins. For everyone she'd lost. For everything they did to her. He didn't want to take that away from her, but she had to know how stupid it was going after them. From what he had experienced of them, they were dangerous and they hadn't even been trying. Not really.

"Okay, just promise you won't do anything stupid." Finn looks over Clarke's face, looking for something, Bellamy isn't sure of what. It's clear she hasn't told him the entire plan. Good. Maybe Clarke didn't trust Finn as much as he thought she did. Better for Bellamy.

"I won't make promises I know I can't keep." Clarke grins, a devilish smile that is all teeth.

"Don't make this about revenge Clarke. If you do something with only revenge on your brain… bad things will happen. You won't be focused clearly. Whatever you're planning on doing, go in with a clear head." Finn puts a hand on Clarke's forearm and immediately she pulls back from it as if burned. Odd. Yet it made Bellamy feel good. Clarke obviously didn't like the beta wolf now. It was only hours ago that Clarke had been hugging the boy, but now it was as if she was burned by his touch. As if she'd been reminded of something. Something that maybe had to do with her, Finn and Raven.

Just to show the little beta wolf how much more Clarke trusted and liked him, Bellamy places a hand on her shoulder. When she doesn't shrug it off, Finn growls at him, but returns his gaze to Clarke. "Remember what I said. And tell Raven that I'm sorry again."

"Tell her yourself. You did what you did and clearly you're not sorry about it. I'm done being the go between. You need to fix it yourself. I'm not getting involved." Clarke says, again mentioning something that was clearly between the three. Something none of them wanted to face. Or had already faced and hadn't gotten over.

"Damn right, you're not. I can fight my own battles, thank you." Bellamy turns, surprised Raven had managed to sneak up on him. And not only her, but the rest of the pack as well. This wasn't good. Bellamy had been too distracted focusing on pissing off Finn that he'd missed the pack walking up on them. What if it had been an assassin?

"Raven…listen-" Finn got cut off as Raven punched him in the crotch. Bellamy internally flinched and then tried to hide his smirk.

"I'm done listening to you. That was for kissing my best friend asshole!" Raven backs up a step before continuing in a voice he knew was meant to finish whatever was between them. "I'm so done hearing your pathetic little apologies. You can't take back what you did. Just own up to your actions Finn. Get over yourself. Move on. I think it's safe to say that both Clarke and I are done living in the past. That includes having had anything to do with you."

Clarke leaves Bellamy's side and walks to Raven, taking her hand in her own. Bellamy notices Raven stiffen beside Clarke the moment their hands touch. So that was what was between the three. At least now Bellamy had a real reason to dislike Finn. Not because he felt Finn was encroaching on his territory. He had to remind himself that Clarke was not his. Not yet, but one day he was going to find a way to make her see she was meant for him and him for her. Maybe they were mates and they needed to escalate their relationship in order to figure it out.

"Do we need to do this here?" Finn asks looking around at the company. His eyes betray the twinge of fear and embarrassment he is feeling.

"Why not here Finn?" Raven spreads her arms and growls at him. "You broke my heart. I will never forget what you did. I'm done with you. I'm not playing games. Just stop apologizing, alright? It's over. I'm tired. I don't want to keep thinking about it." Raven brings a hand to her forehead as Clarke slings an arm around her shoulders. Bellamy again watches Raven stiffen, slipping a look at Clarke. A look of contempt perhaps, if only for a second before it is replaced by a saddened one.

"I think you're done here." Bellamy takes a step towards the beta, a step confirming his territory. Bellamy can smell the wave of embarrassment and rage fuming off of the beta which only makes the wolf within Bellamy want to pounce.

"Fine. Clarke, I'll let you know what I find." Finn sighs and shifts forms before running off into the woods. Bellamy feels good, knowing that he confirmed his territory around Finn. He sensed that Finn was thinking of Clarke and maybe Raven as part of his territory, but Clarke and Raven were part of Bellamy's pack and therefore _his_ territory. Even though he wasn't one of those guys that marked his territory over girls, he felt in this case he had to show the little beta that these girls were under his protection and care. He was going to make that abundantly clear to the beta every damn time he saw him.

*Clarke's POV*

"What's going on? Why are you all out here?" Clarke gently asks, wondering why the entire pack had followed her and Bellamy. Hoping something wasn't wrong, Clarke looks to Raven for answers.

"We want to learn how to work together and we want to start learning now." Octavia says from the back where she is standing beside Fox.

"Really?" Clarke asks surprised. These shifters sure were eager to learn. Good. Clarke wasn't sure if they would even think about working together or if she would have to push the matter, but here they were ready and willing. She would oblige. "Okay. Bellamy, what do you think we go on a little hunt?" Clarke looks at him with a glint in her eye. This could be something fun. A chance for them to be the predators for once.

"If you all want to go, then let's go." Bellamy let's out a breath but complies. Clarke watches his hands ball into fists at his side and then relax.

"We'll be safe Bellamy. Jaha won't attack right now. The law is on our side. The humans around us keep us safer. He doesn't like humans and humans don't seem to like us. These woods will protect us. As long as we stay close enough to the border of the woods, we'll be in the clear. Jaha doesn't like being so close to humans. Back home, we were surrounded by forest for hundreds of miles. Here there isn't enough to keep him separated from them. Besides it would be too easy and he likes the game." Clarke gently rests a hand against Bellamy's arm trying to reassure him that this could be a good thing. "If you decide that it had become too unsafe, I swear we will leave at your say so. Alright?"

"If you're sure, then we should go before it gets dark." Bellamy looks up to the sky to where it is still sunny and light out at around four in the afternoon. The look across his face spells fear, but he also knows that they do need this.

"We have plenty of time Bellamy. We need this. We need to learn each other's strengths and weaknesses. That way we can better protect each other." Clarke watches as Octavia takes the lead and shifts first galloping off into the woods.

"I know." Bellamy rolls his neck and lets out a breath.

"We'll be safe. One inkling of danger Bellamy and we'll go." Clarke makes sure she reassures the over protective alpha male. She even presses a hand to his arm for the full effect. There was something in that touch that she knows grounds him. "Now who's gonna take the lead, huh snail?" Clarke tosses a wink before shifting and racing ahead following behind Octavia.

Half hour later, the pack has split into the woods in pairs for security just in case Jaha or the assassins did decide to come. The pack hasn't been able to have fun and this game would allow them to hunt each other while learning what each individual's skill sets were. Each shifter would learn to sneak up on the other. It was a game much like that of tag. Each learning how to hone their skills to capture prey. All the rough play would just be that; play.

Clarke partners up with Monroe. Clarke and Bellamy had each shifter pair with someone they hadn't worked with before so they could learn how to work together. Monroe, Clarke found to be lethal. She was quick to make the attack and bring down the prey or in this case, Clarke. Clarke herself was fast and agile, easily outrunning or sidestepping her attacker. Monroe would be a good surprise attacker while she herself was good at dodging and making quick minimal injuries.

Later after Monroe and Clarke have had their fun with each other, Clarke pairs off with Octavia. The girl seemed to be lightning quick, much quicker than Clarke and strong when she did attack. She put her entire being into the attack, but didn't last long before she grew tired. She would be a good lead attacker. She could work on her stamina, and Clarke on her strength.

Two hours later, Clarke has paired with each shifter she hadn't had a chance to work with before, everyone except for Bellamy. Oh and she was determined to sneak up on him just like he had snuck up on her that week ago.

Clarke waits and watches while she remains upwind. She can smell Bellamy nearby, can feel his presence close by. She waits behind a bush, carefully making sure she makes no sound. Right as Bellamy begins to round the bush, she jumps out and tackles him to the ground. Instead of surprise on his face, there is just laughter.

" _What?"_ Clarke looks at him with a curious gaze. What was so funny?

" _You suck at surprise attacks by the way. I could sense you from over that hill."_ Sense. He could sense her just like she was beginning to be able to sense him too. Did that mean–? No. It meant absolutely nothing more than two alphas learning the ways in which each moved. Bellamy chuckles in what sounds like low grumbles. Clarke opens her mouth and gets off Bellamy. She lets him stand to all four feet before he continues to laugh.

" _Why are you laughing?_ " Clarke asks again feeling like she is out of the loop, yet feeling compelled to laugh along.

" _You are just amusing Clarke Griffin."_ Bellamy looks at her with an adoring gaze and she turns away. She can't face that look. She doesn't want to face that look. It is the same look he had presented to her that morning. A look that said there was something more than friendship between them. Clarke is not ready for that.

" _We should go do something. Like we're supposed to be doing."_ Clarke says quickly, obviously trying to get away from that look. She had begun to see it almost every time she looked at him after that morning and she couldn't risk emotions making her weak, not right now. She also couldn't risk the realization of what that look could mean for her and her pack's future.

" _Are you dodging again?"_ Bellamy gives Clarke a knowing look and she rolls her eyes before trotting ahead. Why did she feel a certain way every time he looked at her like that? Why did he have to look at her like that? Couldn't the two alphas just be friends and co-leaders? Clarke didn't know and she didn't want to find out. Her focus was on her pack and keeping them safe. Nothing else mattered. She wouldn't let him know just how much she was dodging his gaze and the meaning behind it.


	20. Chapter 20

Part 20

*Bellamy's POV*

It had been four days now since the pack had begun training with one another. Four days without an attack. Four days of living in the same motel room. Bellamy could admit to himself he was going a little crazy. Between worrying they would be attacked and Octavia constantly sneaking out, he was growing frustrated. It also didn't help that he was in such close proximity to Clarke and he couldn't do anything about it. She continued to dodge his gazes and change the subject when he approached the topic of them. She was beginning to infuriate him. But he could be patient. He would wait. He would let her come to him. He knew she was feeling something. He could sense it. He could smell the fear and the curiosity roll off of her when he was around. But he didn't want to push her. He wouldn't push her. He was determined to let her come to him on her own, at her own pace.

Bellamy knew that this sense of security growing among the pack was a false sense. The assassins weren't going to let them go now. They were waiting for the right moment to strike. The moment when the pack let down their guards. Bellamy wasn't going to allow his pack to let down their guards. So he worked them. Constantly.

Every day from morning till evening, there were constantly two shifters on watch duty. The others running into the woods to train with one another. Watching and learning how each attacked and defended, learning the strengths and weaknesses they each possessed.

The air was growing cooler with the fast approaching Samhain only two days away. Bellamy knew that the night the dead walked among the living was going to be the night something was going to happen. At least he thought so. He could feel something brimming in his bones. Either they would attack the pack or the pack would attack them. Clarke had been gaining Intel from Finn much to Bellamy's annoyance. The beta liked to get on his nerves. It was clear the beta still had feelings for both Raven and Clarke and he was coyly going about pursuing those feelings. Bellamy breathed through the urge to fight Finn each time he pressed closer to Clarke and whispered something to her.

Bellamy would wait. Bellamy could wait. He repeated that mantra in his head every time he needed to.

"Bellamy?" Bellamy turns his head to look at his sister. She was currently on watch with him while Clarke and the others were out in the woods training. She had been disappearing and Bellamy had insisted that she be on watch with him so he could keep his eyes on her.

"Yeah?" Bellamy looks curiously at his sister. She hasn't just sat down and talked with him for ages and he wonders what has brought this situation about, not that he's complaining. He notices she looks a little guilty and a little scared as she worries her lip.

"Don't be mad, but I've been sneaking off to meet someone. A… a friend." So that's where she'd been going. It must have been an important friend for her to mention them to Bellamy. She had to know the risk she was taking in telling him. He didn't trust easily and this was a person who Octavia was trusting with her life. A person that could be undercover, someone who could intend her harm.

"Octavia…" Bellamy growls low. This was too dangerous for his sister. She was too naïve, too friendly in this world of killers and those who would deceive her.

"Open mind Bellamy. I'll stop talking and you'll never know who it is." Octavia looks at him defiantly, yet he can tells she's worried. He takes Clarke's words into consideration. Mediate with her. Talk it out. Don't just control her life. Bellamy didn't want Octavia to despise him. Not ever. So he took a deep breath and listened.

"Tell me more." Bellamy breathes in and out. He swears if this was some suitor he was going to kill the guy.

"My… friend is someone who might be able to help us. They know about us, our kind and I want your permission to meet with them on my own and ask if they'll help." Octavia looks to him. Bellamy had never followed her before so he'd never known of this person in question. He'd never questioned the scents on her before, but now he wondered. If he had, maybe he would know more about this friend.

"How?" Bellamy asks, curious.

"I don't know. But I thought I'd ask and maybe they could help." Octavia retains her worried look, probably hoping Bellamy wouldn't argue with her or tear down her idea.

"How exactly did you meet this friend? And how do they know about us? Is your friend a shifter?" Bellamy asks, knowing he's sending a flurry of questions but not being able to contain them. "Just how long have you been seeing this friend? Is this some guy you've got a crush on? How can you be so sure you're safe with them?" Bellamy throws more questions to the wind.

"My friend has saved me in the past from encounters with the assassins. I'm not sure how they know about us, but I'm glad they do. My friend has saved my life and it's because they know about us. I don't know if my friend is a shifter or a human, I can't tell to be honest. I've being seeing him- dammit, well now you know it's a guy. Don't overthink that. I've been seeing him for a few days now. He saved me back when the assassins first came. And I just know Bellamy. There's something about him, something that makes me feel safe. I can't explain it Bell." Octavia says.

"So it's some suitor then? Just some guy who you know nothing about. Someone you're willing to trust with your life? Octavia have you lost your common sense? There are killers out there." Bellamy feels the growing rage within him. He knows he needs to look at this calmly, but he can't. This is his sister. His responsibility. He has to look out for her when she isn't looking out for herself.

"Not just some suitor Bellamy. He's a perfect gentlemen and he saved my life. That's got to count for something." Octavia fiercely looks her brother in the eye. He knows nothing he says is going to change her mind. She will see this man again with or without him. So he'd just have to go and see for himself. Clarke's voice echoes in his head, _"You've got to let her grow up."_ He had to let his sister grow up whether he liked it or not.

"Okay." Bellamy takes a deep breath. He doesn't feel he knows enough about this new friend of Octavia's, but he supposes it will have to do for now. "It's a good idea, but I'm coming with you."

"No, no way!" Octavia jumps backwards, looking panicked.

"Why not me?" Bellamy inspects her features for anything that might give away why he couldn't go with her.

"Because you just can't. You wouldn't understand…" She pauses and then her eyes light up. "Raven can come." Octavia spits out. Raven? As far as Bellamy knew, Raven and Octavia hadn't even talked let alone become friends.

"Why Raven?" Bellamy asks.

"Because I trust her not to judge my friend. You would just scare him off. Raven could help protect me. She's strong and fierce and I trust her with my life." Octavia answers honestly. Bellamy could understand that. Knowing he was a guy, Bellamy most definitely would scare away the little suitor. Even if it had been a girl, he knew that if anything about her gave off some weird vibe, he would never trust her. So perhaps it was better if Raven went with his sister. Clarke trusted the girl with her life, so maybe Bellamy could trust her with Octavia's life. Raven seemed to have a good intuition and she didn't take shit from anyone. She would fight with Octavia if it came to it. But maybe Bellamy would hang behind to make sure nothing bad happened…

"Fine," Bellamy answers.

"But Bellamy- wait, fine? No other argument?" Octavia looks at him cautiously as if waiting for him to drop the bomb.

"Yes fine. But it will not be today. It'll be sometime later after Clarke and I discuss this new friend." Bellamy ends the discussion there, Octavia seeming satisfied.

"Thanks big brother." Octavia walks over to Bellamy and give him a hug which he returns.

*Clarke's POV*

Clarke is busy wrestling with Raven as Finn quickly approaches. Clarke immediately stops and Raven gives her a nod staying behind. Clarke trots over to Finn watching out of the corner of her eye as Miller takes down Monroe from the side and Fox cowers from Murphy's sharp teeth. They were a group of teenagers, but they were becoming a unit. A pack.

Clarke cocks her head at Finn, looking up at the tall boy. She eyes him as he eyes Raven with a mournful look before growling low at him to get on with what he came here to say. Raven, Clarke notices quickly walks off to watch the wrestling.

"I have information." Clarke nods and shifts back to her human form. She notices Raven eyeballing Finn with a death glare from where she is standing still a wolf so she nods to Raven again to head off. She then brushes a hand through her messy blonde curls and stretches her human limbs out. It had been hours since she had been human and it took a little getting used to.

"The assassin, Jaxon. He likes to go to a bar, some place called Eden. He's been going there for the past two nights and I have reason to believe he'll be going back tonight and for the next little while. He seems to entertain the women there. Brings a new one back with him each night. Anyway, the point is, he goes alone." Finn smiles as Clarke grins. This was the information they had been waiting for. A lone assassin caving into his weakness for lust.

"Thank you Finn, thank you." Clarke rushes towards him and pulls him in for a quick hug. He doesn't release her when she releases him. It becomes a little awkward, when Finn finally does release her. He looks into her eyes and holds her gaze for a moment longer than he should have. She breaks the lock and backs off, giving him a small smile. She hopes Raven didn't notice, because she wouldn't approve.

"Anytime Clarke." Finn frowns quickly, but it turns into a quick smile. "Don't do anything reckless with this knowledge, okay?"

"You know me, I can't make promises I might not be able to keep. I'll be smart about it though, I promise." Clarke takes his hand in hers and meets his eyes. She knows he still cares for her. Thing is, she didn't care for him. And she needed to make that clear to him. To him and to Raven who she knew had some doubts about Clarke where Finn was concerned.

"Thank you. I'll leave before Blake decides to use me as a chew toy." Finn nods over behind Clarke. She looks and sees Bellamy approaching and he doesn't look happy that Finn is here. Bellamy never looked happy when Finn was around. He always got jealous. Of a relationship between Finn and Clarke that didn't exist. Jealous for a girl, Clarke would never let be with him.

"Clarke." Bellamy acknowledges her as his eyes follow Finn as he disappears into the treeline.

"Bellamy?" Clarke questions his appearance, yet he couldn't have better timing.

"It's time to rotate out." Bellamy looks over to Miller and Monroe who have eyed the alpha as he entered their training space. He nods to them and they instantly know it's their turn to watch. Octavia comes over the hill and she growls at Raven to join her in a wrestling match.

"You're timing is impeccable. Finn just delivered some great news. We have our first opportunity to take out an assassin." Clarke grins.

"Already?" Bellamy, Clarke notices looks worried.

"Yes, Bellamy. Finn's been working day and night to work something out. Basically one of them goes to a bar called Eden. He's been going there the past couple of nights. The best part? He's been going alone. Alone Bellamy. We'll have a chance against him." Clarke grins at the sudden and hopeful news, but again, Bellamy just looks worried. She could understand he was worried about the outcome, but with all of them against the one? There was sure to be a victory without sacrifice.

"Clarke, maybe it's too soon." Bellamy looks out towards the remaining wolves tussling in the background.

"I'm scared too Bellamy. But we might not get a chance like this again. We don't have to go tonight. Even when we do go, there's no guarantee Jaxon will be there. Just think it over. Okay? This could be our chance. We've been working our asses off for days now, learning how we work as a unit, and on our own. I think we can do this Bellamy, but if you don't think so, I'm open to leaving it alone for now, but we do have to do this at some point." Clarke looks at the ground. This opportunity might not present itself again, but if Bellamy felt unsure about it, then she wouldn't push him to go. She would stay back and stay safe at his side. She was learning that she didn't hold the final say, the both of them did. So she would wait until he was ready.

"No Clarke, you've been wanting this for a while. We'll have to scan out the area before hand and you'll have to tell me exactly how the assassins work as individuals. Then we can go, but not tonight. Tomorrow. Everyone will be out in costume. Maybe the assassin will be thrown off guard." Bellamy rests a hand against Clarke's arm and looks down at her with sure eyes.

"Okay, but I mean it Bellamy. If you want to back out, I will. We can go another day. It doesn't have to be tomorrow. We're in this together Bellamy, I get that now. More than ever, okay? So please, just tell me if you think this is a bad idea." Clarke lets his hand rest on her arm, but faces his piercing gaze.

"I don't think it's a bad idea, but I do think some of us are going to get hurt."

"That's a fact of life Bellamy. And Octavia?" Clarke asks, wanting to know if the younger Blake would be joining them.

"No, she'll be staying back with Murphy and Fox. She's already agreed on the terms of her staying behind. She's ordered that someone watches my back." Bellamy chuckles briefly.

"I'll have your back, Bellamy. Always." Clarke smiles and presses her own hand over top of the one Bellamy has pressed against her arm.

Suddenly remembering herself and the feelings she is denying herself, she pulls a step away. She watches Bellamy's face fall slightly before it picks back up and he smirks.

"You can't avoid this forever." He whispers, bending close to her ear. Clarke feels goosebumps raise across her arms as his voice coaxes her. Clarke closes her eyes and stops breathing for a moment feeling the calm wash through her.

"Something changed that night." Clarke whispers, her eyes closed, referring to the night Bellamy shared his blood with her. Ever since then, something had changed between them. There was this uncanny ability to sense how he was feeling every now and again. Clarke didn't know much about blood sharing, but that wasn't a side effect. Not one that she'd ever heard of.

"So you don't deny it." It's a statement rather than a question Bellamy poses.

"I don't deny it, but my duty is to the pack Bellamy. That's it. You should understand that. Nothing is going to happen between us." Clarke closes her eyes trying to refocus her mind.

"Not if you don't let it." Clarke manages to move away from Bellamy. Her goosebumps remain and the feeling of something else lingers. But she won't let herself think on what it is. He reaches out for her again, but she firmly steps away. "Look, I'm part of this pack Clarke. As much as you have a duty to them," he nods to the pack members off to the side. "You have a duty to me as well."

"We may both be alphas Bellamy, but I don't choose you. You're not my mate Bellamy. I'm betrothed to Tristan and until that falls through I will remain so. Nothing you say will change that. Even if I wanted something with someone, I can't have it. My pack comes first. I can't be happy until every one of my pack is safe. You might not understand that Bellamy because you're pack, what remains of it, are with you right now. But more than half of my pack remains behind bars. I can't be happy until they are safe. I can't be thinking of anything other than them. Can you understand that?" Clarke tries to get across to Bellamy that she can't be with anyone right now. Not even if Tristan came running would she accept him. Not unless he promised the entire force of the Tri Kru behind him. Clarke can't find love or happiness. Not until her family is safe. It would be wrong for her to enjoy the pleasure of life while they were suffering.

"Then I'll wait Clarke. I mean it. If you deny yourself happiness then I'll deny myself happiness until you're ready. We're in this together Clarke. You suffer, I suffer. One day, maybe when this is over, you'll realize that maybe I have more to offer than meets the eye." Clarke watches Bellamy's gaze meet hers once more. Watches it find a sense of resolve and pierce into her. She wants to back away because it frightens her. It's a promise he has in his gaze. A promise that he won't break. A promise to her.

"Then so be it." Clarke says, rapidly trying to make her heart stop beating so fast. The thought of Bellamy making such a promise to wait for her… frightens her above all else. She'd had bad experiences will the men she loved in her life. They all left or died. She didn't want that to happen with Bellamy. Part of her would break and never be whole again if he left or died. If she denied herself his whole being then she would never know the ache of him leaving when he did leave her. Because that's all they ever did.

All except for Miller. Yet she might still lose him before the war was won.

Bellamy looks from Clarke and nods over to the pack.

"We should talk about what we're going to do and when we're going to do it. You might as well invite Raven. She seems glued to your side."

"She's my kindred Bellamy." His eyes widen at the new information.

"You never said anything before. You're so young…" Bellamy seems baffled as to why Clarke had taken a kindred and why she had taken one so soon.

"When you know, you know. Raven was my kindred from the moment we were born. We both knew and when I turned ten and her eleven, we undertook the blood bond. So you see, we aren't just best friends Bellamy and she isn't just glued to my side. There's a reasoning for it." Clarke answers. A kindred was sort of like a soul mate. Someone you paired yourself to for life. It didn't have to be sexual, sometimes it was just a bond of friendship, but an unbreakable bond all in the same. A blood bond connected the two kindred to one another. Each was connected to the other in life and death. Not just anyone was your kindred and it took time to find yours. Not everyone had one, but when you had one, you knew. Kindred were inseparable. When Clarke left Raven behind, she felt like she lost a piece of herself. A piece only filled by her bond with Raven. Her best friend. Her confidante.

"You have no kindred?" Clarke asks, genuinely curious.

"No, to be honest I thought it was a myth. Same with soul mates until recently that is." Bellamy lets out a breath of air. He didn't believe in soulmates… until recently. Did that mean he thought _they_ were soulmates? Clarke had believed her parents were soul mates when she was a child, but she soon understood that they were not. But she had seen soul mates in action. Her pack mate Harper had a soul mate and his name was Sterling. What was happening to the two right now… Clarke didn't want to imagine.

"Soul mates are very real Bellamy."

"You know about soul mates?" Bellamy asked, disbelieving.

"Yes. I know a pair. They knew from the moment they met when they were young. It was this instant connection. This instant need to be in proximity with the other. They could feel each other miles apart…" Clarke trails off thinking about her new connection with Bellamy. It wasn't the same thing, she tells herself. It wasn't instant. It wasn't that overpowering. This new bond only happened after blood sharing. She didn't have a soul mate. She was lucky enough to have a kindred. No one was lucky enough to find both.

"You're a hopeless romantic." Bellamy smirks and Clarke gently shoves him.

"We all have things we wish for Bellamy. Is love such a bad thing?"

"No. And that's what I've been trying to tell you." Clarke shies from Bellamy's piercing gaze. She may want love, but it doesn't mean she'll get it or allow herself to have it.

"We should go Bellamy. Talk to everyone." Clarke turns away, but Bellamy spins her back.

"You can let yourself be happy Clarke. Your friends won't hate you for it." Bellamy looks deep into her eyes, looking for something. Something he won't find because she won't let it surface. She would deny it. Forever if she had to. She needed the best alliance she could get for her pack. She was an alpha and sometimes all she could offer was herself. So she had to keep herself free from all bonds. "Even though things are bad, sometimes it's good to show the world that you can still be happy."

"We don't all get such simple choices. Sometimes there's only one way." Clarke finally moves away and heads for Raven. She can't be close to him. All the feelings she'd been hiding, the feelings she'd been denying were beginning to surface every damn time he looked at her. But she couldn't give in. Her pack needed her to be strong. To be thinking about them. She couldn't be selfish. It was wrong.

So she would reject the feelings growing deep within for an alpha she could never have.


	21. Chapter 21

Part 21

*Clarke's POV*

Clarke leaves Bellamy behind her and heads over to Raven. She notices Octavia and Raven tussling and doesn't want to interrupt them up, but she wants to gather Raven and Bellamy to talk about what they were going to do. They needed to start discussing the plan. They would need to scout the area ahead of time and make sure that the assassin was indeed continuing his travels to the bar.

Clarke watches on. Watches Raven pounce on Octavia and take her down. Watches as Octavia stands back up, showing her fangs before bounding forward once more aiming for Raven's back legs. Raven again premeditates Octavia's move and spinning around, head butts the girl's side, knocking her over. Clarke notices Octavia's resilience and stamina. Clarke takes note of how Octavia continues to fight even when Clarke has seen her be taken down three times already. Clarke notices Raven stand-off beside Octavia and show her where to aim for first when attacking head on and jealousy begins to course through Clarke's veins. She feels a little anger at the two hanging out. Grows a little jealous of the relationship growing amongst the two pack mates. Raven was Clarke's best friend. Her kindred. Clarke remembers the times that she and Raven had practiced tussling. Remembers when Raven showed her how to go for the legs first, knock them down and then when they're pinned, go in for the kill... Clarke doesn't know how she should feel about this new relationship between Raven and Octavia…

"Can I borrow you for a second Raven? Sorry Octavia." Clarke looks at the younger wolf. Clarke has noticed Octavia trying to get closer to Raven and she couldn't help but wonder why. Raven wasn't the most open book and she sure wasn't the most pleasant. So it intrigued Clarke why Octavia, a girl who was thrilled about everything, and had a passion for the world would be so interested in gaining her friendship.

"What's up?" Raven asks, as she shifts back and quickly put her hair up in a ponytail. There is a look on her face, one that makes Clarke feel guilty for the spur of the moment hug she had given Finn. Finn was a problem, but a necessity. Clarke would have to be better at blocking him in the future. She didn't want to hurt her best friend any more than she had already.

"I want to talk with you and the others who will be volunteering to go kill the assassin. I want to talk strategy and strengths. Talk about who would do best where and how we're going to go about this." Clarke begins walking beside Raven, heading back towards the motel.

"We should meet back in the motel room I guess. What about the others who won't be coming?" Raven asks, standing next to Clarke.

"They can sit in if they want to. There's always things we can teach and things we can learn." Clarke shrugs. She didn't mind if they sat in, they could offer valuable tips.

"Clarke hold on," Bellamy comes jogging towards her and Raven. "Before we talk with everyone, there's something I need to discuss with you." His eyes look between her and Raven, but they linger on Clarke's.

If this was another attempt to make her somehow see that they could be together, Clarke might blow her top.

"Raven can come too, but I want to talk before we talk to everyone. Something's been added to what we need to discuss." Bellamy presses closer to Clarke's side and Clarke lets out a breath. He's so close and she can feel his body heat. She can smell his scent overwhelming her. All she wants to do is reach out for him, but she can't.

"Okay." Clarke chokes out. She couldn't be alone with Bellamy. Something was bound to happen. She couldn't deny this much longer if he kept being so persistent. But she had to.

Ten minutes later, the three are back in the motel room having let Miller and Monroe know the other three were still out in the woods. Octavia had begun tussling with Murphy before they left and Fox had been watching at the side.

Back in the motel room, Clarke takes a seat at the desk chair, while Raven stands at the other side of the room and Bellamy takes the edge of the bed. Clarke's eyes land on Bellamy's and she sees the longing there. How had she ever missed it? How had she ever looked away? She could get lost in his brown eyes. Clarke takes notice of Raven looking between the two before looking away.

"What did you want to discuss?" Raven speaks up because neither alpha seems to be readying their voices.

"Octavia." Bellamy clears his throat and focuses on Raven. "She's been sneaking out and meeting someone. She wouldn't tell me who, but for some reason she thinks they can help us. She doesn't know how. She doesn't even know if her friend is a shifter or human. She wants to meet him again, with Raven."

"Well I mean I know why me. I am the best, and I am the most awesome choice." Raven adds cockily. Clarke knew Raven would enjoy this the moment the words were uttered. "But why would _she_ pick me?" Raven asks, clearly as confused as Clarke. The little wolf intrigued Clarke. Why would she want to go with Raven? Was this something to do with the growing relationship between them?

"She thinks you'll be the best candidate. You'd protect her if something went wrong, and you won't scare off this friend of hers. Otherwise I don't have a clue as to why Octavia does the things she does. She's quite impulsive." Bellamy sighs.

"We noticed." Raven grins.

"So she thinks he'll be able to help? Do you think we should meet him, her, whoever this is? What if it's a trap? The assassins, they aren't like normal shifters. They smell human, but have the abilities of shifters. It concerns me that Octavia's been meeting someone who matches that description." Clarke speaks up finally able to stop her erratic heartbeat. It concerns her that Octavia had been off meeting some stranger, someone she couldn't know for sure she could trust. And this description just sent some kind of feeling down her spine.

"That is quite concerning." Raven bites her lip, a habit Raven had when she grew nervous. She didn't do it often. A feeling of quite some anger radiates through Clarke's core, but it's not her own.

"I'm going to lock her in this motel." Bellamy rages now, the understanding that she could very well be meeting up with an assassin under cover surfacing. "How could she be so stupid? How could I have let her leave?"

"Bellamy. Bellamy, calm down." Clarke stands from her seat and rushes to his side. "She's her own person. As much as you wish you could control her, you can't. We don't know for sure, okay? I think it's in everyone's best interests if we did indeed explore this possibility that they are an ally. Raven can go with her. We can even send in Monroe and Miller as backup in case something happens. We can't just assume."

Bellamy meets Clarke's eyes and she slowly sees the glowing gold colour simmering down, until his eyes turn back to the soft shade of brown she knows so well. She presses a calming hand to his shoulder and gives him a reassuring look.

"I don't want her anywhere near this friend. I'll go and meet this friend. I'll take you with me. You can confirm if they are indeed an assassin. Are assassins all guys?" Clarke sees a look flit through Bellamy's eyes. A look of worry. Clarke could only think on what he was thinking. That his baby sister was meeting with some guy, whether assassin or not.

"No, there are two female assassins, but they are mainly male." Clarke answers honestly. It would do no good for her to lie to Bellamy.

"We need to confirm this soon. I know her. She'll go meet him sooner than later, probably to warn him that she'll be bringing a friend next time they meet. God, how could I not have seen this? Or known?" Bellamy puts his head in his hands.

"Remember Bellamy. We don't know for sure alright. They could very well be some ignorant human. Or a mutated shifter of some kind. We won't know until we meet him. There's no certainty of anything. And you beating yourself up over something you can't control isn't going to get us anywhere." Clarke answers.

"Alright. We need to discover who they are. The sooner the better." Bellamy resigns.

"We will. First, we have to scout the bar out. Make sure Jaxon really is going there. Then we can decide when to meet this friend." Clarke says, finally noticing that she is extra close to Bellamy and she needs to back off a bit.

"Okay." Bellamy agrees, looking her in the eyes as he sighs.

"We'll go tonight. Check out the bar first, then we'll figure out when and how to meet Octavia's friend." Clarke smiles gently at Bellamy, letting him know she has his back. "I do have questions. Do you think he could be trustworthy? Or that he'll actually help?"

"I can't tell you. Octavia seems to think she can trust him, but I for one am not going to make any decisions until I meet the guy." Bellamy answers, a strict look on his face. Clarke can see and she can smell the anger radiating off of him.

"Okay. What has she all told you? I want to know every detail so we can assess the threat." Clarke sits down beside Bellamy on the bed and the connection running between them is strong. She can feel the heat waving off his body. She can smell the desire now beginning to build within him and bounce off to her.

"First Octavia told me this friend had saved her life from the assassins. That he somehow knew about our kind, but wasn't sure if he was shifter or not. She said there was something about him that made her feel safe. And that's all I could squeeze out of her." Clarke notices that Bellamy has balled up his fist at his side and she resists the urge to grab his hand and smooth it out.

"Well, assassins sure don't give out the friendly vibe, no matter who they are, so that's a good sign." Raven says, adding to the conversation as she eyeballs the two alphas sitting in close proximity to each other.

"True, but I'd still feel safe if we assumed him somewhat dangerous until we actually meet him. And we will meet him, just not today or tomorrow. I know she said he could help us, but we don't have the time to meet him, assess the threat and learn to trust him by tomorrow. So we'll do this after we kill the assassin. Or maybe we won't if we're successful and go on the run. Is that okay Bellamy?" Clarke asks, eyeing Bellamy for his answer.

"Yeah Clarke. As long as my sister doesn't sneak out to meet him again before we go, I'm okay with this. I either want to meet the guy and get to know every single secret he possesses or not know him at all, and take my sister where she can never meet him again."

"Okay. Now that that is figured out, I want to talk strategy about how we're going to go about attacking." Clarke stands up from beside Bellamy and walks back to the desk chair where she plops down again.

"We've got Miller, Monroe and the three of us. I know Monroe. She's one of the strongest shifters I know. She's been working hard to build up her strength and fighting skills. She's also the one that most people overlook." Bellamy looks between Clarke and Raven.

"Okay. I'm going to assume that if Jaxon is indeed going to this bar, he'll be expecting to take a girl home. If we can get Monroe in there, maybe we can get him interested in her. He'll smell her scent and know she's one of us. We could lead him out with her. He'll think she's an easy target."

"She's not doing that alone." Bellamy says, a fierceness to protect his pack coming to the surface like Clarke knew it would.

"No, we'll send someone with her. Someone he'll overlook. Someone who can sit with her, be her backup. Miller and her seem to have formed a unit. They work together like Raven and I do. I think the two of them would be best together." Clarke says, the understanding that maybe the two of them were closer than they appeared. Maybe he had found his kindred. Miller didn't let just anyone in. He was a closed book and it took quite some digging and force to finally open his pages.

"Won't they recognize Miller?" Bellamy asks, snapping Clarke out of her thoughts.

"Yes, but not if he blends in. Tomorrow night is Samhain right?" Bellamy nods. "Then we can dress him and her up. He'll blend in enough to be her back up and she'll stand out enough to catch Jaxon's eye."

"Then we can lead them to a secluded location where we can kill him." Bellamy puts forth.

"Exactly." Clarke grins.

"So we'll just be what, lying in wait?" Raven asks, her arms folded across her chest.

"Yes. Once we scout the location we'll know where we'll be able to lead Jaxon to. Somewhere where humans won't see us and his screams won't be heard." Clarke says. She grows excited. This plan is actually becoming something. Something that could work.

Later that night, Clarke, Bellamy and Raven are at the bar called Eden, having followed the directions Finn gave. They sit at a back table away from the crowd. Each have their eyes and noses peeled for any sign that Jaxon has arrived. Bellamy has ordered a drink to help pass the time. Clarke tried to order a drink, but the bartender asked for her I.D. and well she didn't have that and even if she did, well she was only eighteen. Raven just looked smug about it. Raven herself went off for a few minutes and came back with a drink of her own. She just grinned coyly and said nothing of it. Clarke grumbled about it for a good twenty minutes until Raven finally agreed to let Clarke have some.

It was boring to say the least. The assassin wasn't here and it was past ten o'clock now. They'd been sitting here slowly sipping their drinks for an hour and still nothing. Clarke was beginning to think that the assassin wasn't going to show. That maybe Finn was wrong. Maybe the assassin wasn't coming back. Maybe he'd never shown up in the first place.

"So who wants to order some food?" Raven asks. That girl could eat and she was always hungry. Clarke grinned at her. Clarke was hungry too and this place did have some food that smelled heavenly.

"What do you think about sharing the buffalo wings?" Clarke shrugs. She could go for some greasy meat. She could really go for some venison right now… but unfortunately this place only sold chicken and steak, so wings it would have to be.

"Yah I guess." Raven sighs and tries to get the waiter's attention. That's when Clarke notices the scent. The same scent she'd known most of her life. Raven notices it almost immediately too. The two share a look and then look to the door. There, dressed in mundane clothing stands Jaxon. Clarke's eyes fixate on his belt. His most prized possession. The belt that carried a piece of the pelts of each of Jaxon's shifter victims.

Clarke shivers as she smells the death waft off of him.

Bellamy begins to growl beside her as he senses her discomfort. Clarke presses a hand to his arm and shakes her head. It would do no good to be discovered tonight. They were just lying in wait and watching. Learning.

They couldn't blow their cover.

The three shifters watch as Jaxon makes his way to the bar and orders something to drink. Clarke watches him eyeing the entire place. What he's looking for she doesn't know. She prays that he hasn't caught their scents like they had his. If he had it would be only too easy for him to catch them off guard. But his eyes never land on them. Instead they land on a pretty blonde girl three tables away. One who eyes him back and smirks.

It's time to leave. They have what they came for. Now they must escape with their lives and their cover intact.

Clarke turns to Bellamy and motions her head towards the door. They silently stand to their feet, trying to attract as little attention as possible. Clarke leaves a twenty on the table to cover their drinks. Then they silently and quickly make their way to the door. Clarke watches their backs as they head to the door. Just as they are leaving she watches Jaxon lift his head up and sniff just before turning his head in their direction. Before he can catch sight of them, the three are out the door and Clarke doesn't look back.

"Okay, so that was incredibly stressful." Raven huffs as they walk down the sidewalk.

"Now that we know he does indeed come here and that he came alone, we need to find a place to lure him." Bellamy says, completely ignoring Raven's comment.

"What about here?" Clarke pauses a few hundred feet from the bar where an alley rests quietly just begging for attention. This could be the spot they bring the assassin to his death. It was quiet, concealed and close enough that the music from the bar would drown out his screams if he did indeed scream. There was a fire escape on the right side, a spot that one of them could lay in wait. Another spot at the end of the alley where someone could wait. And a spot on this side where someone could wait. This could be the best suited place.

"I don't know, it seems too public." Bellamy sounds worried, but what better spot? On the other end of the alley, a path leads straight out to the woods. A perfect get away. There are three spots each member could attack from. The alley bears no light so any passerby would not see them as they attacked. The music from the bar would drown out the assassin's cries and the walls left little room for escape.

"Think about it Bellamy. Tomorrow night is Samhain. Everyone will be in costume and out partying. This provides us with enough cover from the humans and it's close enough that Jaxon won't shoot us before we get here." Raven points out what Clarke was thinking of. "No matter where we go, someone is going to get hurt. Someone is going to die. It will always be too public. There will always be a chance of humans running into us."

"Raven has a point Bellamy. If we don't do it here, we might lead him too far. He'll have enough time to contact the rest of his people and get out his gun to shoot Monroe and Miller. We have to lure him close otherwise we might lose Miller and Monroe and I'm not about to let that happen." Clarke turns a steely gaze on Bellamy. The decision rested in both of their hands, but she had made up her mind.

"Okay. Fine." Bellamy agrees. He looks down the alleyway where the three are stopped and looking around. "Monroe and Miller are bait, yes?"

"Yes. Monroe will be in the bar with Miller where she's going to catch Jaxon's attention. Then with Miller, she'll lead him outside and into this alley where we'll be lying in wait." Clarke says.

"We'll need someone on each side, so he can't escape." Bellamy looks around, looking for vantage points and places where they could easily hide and close in the gaps.

"The walls leave him trapped in here. If Monroe and Miller lead him into the middle and one of us blocks him from the back, another from the side and another from that fire escape," Clarke points to the second floor fire escape she'd seen. "Then we'll have him blocked in from each side."

"Then we can make our escape to the woods from here when we finish." Raven says eyeballing the exit.

"Precisely." Clarke grins. "So we already know that Monroe will be going in with Miller. So who is going to wait where? We need everyone in optimal positions." Clarke begins to think to herself.

"I've got the most strength here and you've got the most speed Clarke. That leaves Raven with what?" Bellamy asks.

"I've got all the smarts pretty boy." Raven snarks, but continues. "Clarke and I work best together, but from what I've seen, someone stealthy will need to close the gap from behind. I volunteer Clarke for that. She's quite stealthy when she wants to be. She can blend in with the surroundings. Jaxon won't even know she's there until it's too late. The fire escape works best for her." Raven looks to Clarke for confirmation and she nods.

"You've got the power Bellamy which means you should be at the back closing off the exit to the woods. Raven should stay on this side and close in from behind when I jump down from the fire escape closing in the gap between this exit and Jaxon. Raven will be my back up. We'll keep him from going to the street where we can't attack. We don't want to involve humans. Bellamy, you can keep him in the center while Miller and Monroe shift." Clarke eyeballs the three exits.

"Then we kill the bastard and make as little mess for the humans as possible. We don't need an animal cull because they think the wildlife murdered one of their own." Clarke says. She didn't need more needless deaths on her hand. Even if they were just the local wildlife.

"Okay. We make as little mess as possible. Then we make for the woods and head back to the motel." Bellamy states what they were speaking of.

"Yes, then we head home. To the house Marcus told me about. There we contact him and go from there. Let's hope this distracts the assassins long enough for us to get away." Clarke meets Bellamy's gaze and he nods.

The three shifters, after figuring out how they were going to deal with the assassin head back to the motel. When they get there, Clarke pulls all the shifters into the motel room to discuss what they are going to do. Clarke tells them all she knows about what the assassin will do once he catches their scents and what to expect once they begin to fight. She takes each of their suggestions and with her, they begin to formulate their attack.


	22. Chapter 22

*Clarke's POV*

The previous night went smoothly, the plan falling into place. Now Clarke waits outside in the alleyway where they had said they would be luring the assassin. The sky is dark. The moon is out. How ironic that it is a full moon. She can hear the passerby's going about their night, drunk and in costume. Clarke herself never understood the dressing up, but she was glad the tradition lingered as it helped with their plan.

Clarke readies herself for the attack. The fire escape beneath her feet creaks slightly in anticipation with her. There is a good chance they could be killed tonight, an even higher chance of them being severely injured. At least one of them would not make it out of here alive. Clarke hopes it's the assassin like they have planned, but there is no way to ensure that. Plans hardly ever go exactly according to plan. Something is bound to go wrong. Though they had gone over and over the plan again and again, the chance of absolute success is low.

Clarke does not care if something goes wrong. She will do everything in her power to protect each and every member of her pack, at whatever cost. Clarke will go down fighting, protecting her loved ones and proving not only to her pack, but to herself, that the monsters that have haunted her childhood can be injured, can be killed.

She also knows that if anyone will be dying to save this pack, it would be her. No one else will be dying for _her_ risky plan. If it goes to shit, no one else will die for _her_ mistake. She had come up with this idea. She had drawn the assassins in, first by running and then by refusing to leave the safety and comfort these shifters had provided her the past few weeks. She was the real prize in all of this, the rest were just part of a game they had no say in playing.

Clarke is ready to put everything on the line.

For Del and Glass. For Roma and Atom. For Wells and Charlotte. She would fight for their legacy to live on. She would fight so those after her would remember them and the courage they possessed to rise against the tyranny in their lives. She would fight so for once Octavia could live a normal teenage life. She would fight for Raven who against all odds fights her inner demons each and every day.

Clarke is not afraid of what will come. She is ready to face her past. She isn't running anymore.

This assassin won't know what's about to hit him.

The assassin they'd been stalking, a younger one by the name of Jaxon Briggs, only six years older than Clarke herself, is only a mere block away. He is busy having drinks in the bar with some new girls he'd met. They were oblivious to the killer in their midst. He was oblivious to the soon to be killers lurking out the door.

The assassins did not only take pleasure in the thrill of the hunt and the kill, but also in the thrill of hunting down a woman and bringing her to bed. They were still men after all. This was a weakness Clarke and her pack were about to exploit. The moment he stepped away from the women he was entertaining, or even outside and away from the other humans he would be tempted away by Monroe and Miller and the easy prey they presented. While he would think he'd be getting away with an easy hunt, they would be luring him towards where Clarke, Bellamy and Raven lay in wait. Patience was all part of the game. No one knew when Jaxon would leave, if he would leave alone or with some poor girl. But when he did, they would be there. They would be ready.

They were eagerly awaiting the kill. Vengeance would be theirs tonight. Monroe had confirmed it was not the rider who had shot at her, but she was still happy to help in killing him. Clarke herself knew that killing Jaxon would be a blow to the assassins and more importantly a blow to her mother and Jaha. He was one of the better assassins, having started at the age of sixteen and having over two dozen kills to his name. The proof of his actions on the belt he wore. A sample of each of the skinned shifters he had killed were placed in some archaic order on that cursed belt. Thirty in total. Thirty so far. If they didn't stop him, he would kill many more.

So they waited.

*Monroe's POV*

Monroe waits patiently across the room. She watches beside Miller, his face turned away so the assassin wouldn't recognize him. Not yet. They needed to wait until he finished another drink. Then he would be well and truly drunk. Not quite an easy target, but much simpler to tempt than a perfectly sober one.

She is eager to get this show on the road. She hates being decked out in this awfully sparse devil costume. She hates the attention she is receiving from everyone around her. Why couldn't she have a simple cape and eye mask like Miller? Ever since she'd run from her own pack for more reasons than she could count, she'd had a nagging feeling that she wouldn't be safe or at peace. Not for a while anyway. So, she had trained, day and night for months. Practicing drill after drill, working herself into such an exhaustion that each night she'd crash in her bed and not wake till morning. She'd had no clue why she felt the need to be stronger, faster, more prepared when for those many months, nothing occurred when she'd needed any of the new strength, or skill she'd forced herself to acquire.

Somehow, she knows a part of her was nagging at her to prepare for this. Not just for tonight, but for what would come after it.

She is ready to prove herself.

It's a little earlier than expected when the assassin whispers in one of the girl's ears and stands up, taking her hand in his. He looks like he intends on leaving, but he couldn't leave yet. They had planned for him to have at least three drinks before they lured him away of their own accord, but apparently, he didn't get that memo. They'd have to get this show on the road without him being as drunk as they would have liked. They'd have to do it quickly before the effects of the drink wore off.

Monroe stands to her feet, ready to start this. She brushes her hand against Miller's shoulder, takes a last deep breath and then walks over in the direction of the assassin. She makes sure to walk right behind him, enough so that he would catch her scent. Monroe notices when he does because his mouth curves into a devilish grin. His eyes close as he takes the scent in deeper, memorizing the taste. She is pretty sure she's about to gag.

Holding her nausea at bay, she manages to bump into him and mutter an apology. He wears a simple t-shirt and jeans. No costume. Meeting his gaze, she feigns a gulp and wide eyes as his mouth curves into a Cheshire grin both menacing and predatory. That grin portrays an intent that makes her want to run scared.

Not yet, she reminds herself. The predatory gaze follows her movements as she finds her feet and begins to slip away. She watches as he mumbles something to the girl, who nods quickly, his eyes not once leaving the path she takes.

He starts to follow after Monroe, so she picks up speed, nodding to Miller in the corner. He gives her a thumb's up and together they meet in the middle and make their way slowly out the door. Giving looks over their shoulders every few seconds, they not only make the assassin think they are afraid, which truth be told, Monroe at least is, but also to keep tabs on him in turn.

Monroe is intimidated by the assassins. She knows they are ruthless killers who tear apart families and friendships without a second thought and a smile on their face. She knows they are not to be underestimated. However, she will be glad to help put an end to this one, by whatever means necessary. She could smell the scents of each of the shifters he had killed previously, a number so high she doesn't want to count. Each piece of fur lining the belt he wears a symbol of each of the murders he has committed. A symbol of the true monster he and the rest of his kind embodied.

Monroe notices Miller look back as they exit the bar, making sure the assassin has them locked in his sights. He nods and they pick up their pace. They have to make it around the corner and through to the alleyway without letting him shoot them. Clarke has prepared her. Each assassin, even when off duty, was never truly off duty. Each had a gun holstered on their person at all times. Always ready for the hunt, she had told them.

"Are you ready?" Miller asks, as they speed walk down the sidewalk to the corner.

"They'll be downwind, right?" Monroe asks for probably the fifth time. She needs to make sure. She doesn't want to die and if anything seems off before they hit that alleyway, then they were screwed. The assassin couldn't get a whiff of Clarke's scent. He would immediately recognize it and know they were planning a trap.

"Yes, we made sure." Miller nods. He gently grips Monroe's arm and urges her to move a little faster.

"Two of the targets. On trail now." Monroe can hear the assassin talking into his phone, just like Clarke had said he would. Now they were really pressed for time. He was telling his buddies where to find them and they would arrive shortly.

Miller turns the corner with Monroe and they stop short in the alley. It is fairly open and wide. The night sky shining in through the canopy. The streetlights don't make it down this far so they are left to rely on their shifter sight. Monroe can see Clarke up on the fire escape directly behind them. She knows that Bellamy is waiting on the other end of the alley and Raven is around the opposite corner, ready to attack the moment Jaxon steps into their trap. Monroe's heart begins to pick up its pace as the two stop in the middle of the alley, just far enough that Clarke and Raven will be able to box him in from the back.

"Two little wolves, lost in the town…" Jaxon's cocky voice breaks the silence of the night, cracking a slight piece of Monroe's inner armour. _Do not be afraid_ , she repeats over and over in her mind. They would kill him before he could kill them. Her mantra, however does not stop the fear creeping into her veins.

"What are we going to do with you?" He chastises, as if she's a school girl about to punished by a sadistic teacher who is ready to witness her beating.

 _Do not be afraid_. Monroe repeats one last time as she takes a deep breath and turns to face the gun pointed right at her skull.

 _Do not be afraid._

*Clarke's POV*

Clarke waits patiently, not allowing her muscles to so much as twitch or her breaths to make the slightest sound. Everything is resting on her being quiet. One false move and the assassin could be notified to her presence, realize this is a trap and flee before they can kill him.

Monroe and Miller had managed to lure the assassin out, just like she'd hoped. Now she needs him to walk just a little farther forward and she can jump him. A jolt of fear rushes through her when he points the gun at Monroe, close enough that she wouldn't have the time to even process he was going to fire the gun before he hit her. She had expected him to carry a weapon, so it's no surprise, just a little too close for comfort. _Just one step closer_ , and he'd be there's.

She 'd not only expected him to carry his weapon, but was also expecting him to call his friends the moment he began the hunt. What she didn't realize was that the backup he had called for, just seconds ago, had not been as far away as she had thought. That he had not been quite so alone as previously thought. That in mere seconds she was going from predator to prey and not even detecting it.

Clarke watches Jaxon fall right into position. Readying herself for the leap, she fails to notice the second assassin above her on the roof, silently watching and waiting for her to lock in and lose awareness of her surroundings. A sixth sense prickles within her a moment too late as he jumps from the roof and lands on top of her. She's knocked face forward and cracks her face off the lower railing. For a moment, she can't think. She doesn't understand what's happened. Her body begins to ache from the weight and pressure just launched on top of her, her forehead and nose bleeding from the rough contact.

Once her thoughts return to her, she turns to face her attacker and notices it is Kohl Dregg, the assassin who had nearly killed her nights ago. The assassin so new he'd been in training when she left.

His hair is more ragged, slight stumble now growing on his face. His dark eyes appear black in the darkness. He also wears an all-black attire consisting of a hoodie and jeans, which is not the usual attire for an assassin. Then again, this night hadn't gone quite according to plan either.

"Not expecting me now were you Clarke?" Kohl's menacing grin brings shivers down Clarke's spine. She remembers what he'd done, what he'd been about to do that night. She won't freeze up. She can't let herself sink back into the days she was too fearful to even look them in the eye. Her pack needs her to be strong. She needs herself to be strong. He's just a juvenile like her. An easier target than the one down below. She is not afraid. He should be afraid of _her_.

"No, but then again when does anything actually go according to plan?" Clarke takes advantage of the moment and lunges forward, aiming for his head. She doesn't miss.

There is no pause for her to revel in her moment of triumph. She shoves him into the wall, eager to daze him, and take control of the surprise situation. She needs to take control now because she sucks at hand to hand combat. It's something she'd never focused on learning due to her shifter genes. Right now, on this fire escape, she has little room to shift and fight, so her hands become her teeth.

It becomes clear she does not have control as he slams against her, knocking her back a few steps.

"Clarke, something's changed since last I saw you." Kohl laughs, wiping the blood from his mouth. "Something's different."

"Yah? You want to know what's different? This time I'm going to _kill you_." Clarke falls down to the ground with a fire in her eyes, and swings her leg out like she'd practiced once or twice with Monroe, hoping it would work. Tonight, the Gods must be looking down at her with a blessing or two because she manages to catch him and he goes down. He's quick to his feet again though, and she snarls her frustration. If the Gods did bless her in this moment, it's not long lasting.

"Now, now. I thought we were playing nice. But if it's dirty you want, it's dirty you'll get." Kohl gathers his strength quick as a whip and is on her before she has a chance to scream. He grabs her by the hair and knocks her head into the brick wall, nearly knocking her unconscious. She sees stars for a moment before she hears the gun shot. To a human's ears it would have been silent, but due to her attuned hearing, she can hear the shot from where she is pressed against the wall.

It comes from directly beneath her and panic grips her body. _Had someone been shot?_ _Was it the assassin? Or one of her pack? Did her pack have things under control?_ There wasn't much time left until Jaha and more assassins arrived on the scene.

Clarke tries not to let the fear of losing another friend grip her as she wriggles. She can't lose focus or he will over power her. She struggles with Kohl, trying to regain her freedom. She can't see out of her left eye because of the blood running down her face from the head wound. She releases her fangs and whips around intending to bite anything she can get her teeth on. She manages to get a grip on the flesh of his shoulder. He snarls as her teeth destroy the tender flesh. He punches her in the side, as they both fight for control. She uses her knee to knee him in the crotch hoping to gain some ground. She does and manages to free herself briefly. Jumping forward out of reach, she wipes the blood from her face and goes for the ladder. At this point space to regain her surroundings may be better for her.

"Clarke!" Raven screams just as Clarke turns around and registers the gun now pointed at her head.

"Thought you could take on an assassin? Thought you could kill _me_? You're nothing Clarke. Just a fly on the wall and you've got nowhere left to go." Kohl spits blood to the side and then beams.

Clarke shivers as a chill goes down her spine and she prepares herself to die.

*Bellamy's POV*

Bellamy waited around the corner of the opposite end of the alley Monroe and Miller would be leading the assassin through. He waits by himself, already shifted. His body was tense, it knew a fight was coming. He knew that there was a possibility he could die or that someone else could die. He prayed no one but the assassin would.

When he heard Monroe and Miller come in through the entrance to the alley, he waited and counted to ten. The he lunged from the shadows straight towards the assassin. He noticed the gun, but didn't stop. He prayed Monroe would move as she sensed him coming, so that the gun would aim at him instead. He would be okay with getting shot so long as he got to sink his teeth into this assassin. He is so focused on the assassin that he doesn't register the sound of another assassin jumping down from the roof, cornering Clarke. Neither does anyone else as this assassin takes full attention.

Bellamy leaps up at the unsuspecting assassin and forces him to the ground. Bellamy goes in for the neck, but the assassin has quick reflexes and with crossed arms he manages to fling Bellamy aside. Bellamy sees Raven from the corner of his eyesight rushing in from the back. The assassin rolls to his knees as Bellamy attacks his backside, once again going in for the neck while Raven goes for his arm. Bellamy can hear Raven growling as she tugs and rips the assassin's arm open. Bellamy goes for the neck while Miller and Monroe now join in the fight.

 _Where was Clarke?_ She should have jumped down the moment the gun was pulled. That's when he notices that not all the sounds of struggle are coming from this assassin and his pack mates, but from up on the fire escape. _The place Clarke had been waiting_. He turns his head and looks up to see Clarke struggling in human form with another assassin who had somehow escaped detection.

Then the assassin gets his gun back and fires a shot intended for Miller, distracting Bellamy from worrying about Clarke. It misses and instead the four are able to bring down the assassin. Bellamy makes sure to go for the jugular. He tears the assassin's throat out with his teeth, tasting the iron as it coats his tongue and drips down his muzzle.

Bellamy is reminded of Dax and how he had felt the crunch beneath his jaw and had felt only remorse. That is a memory that will forever haunt him. This moment however, he feels absolute victory because this assassin is dead and that is one less hunting their pack. One less destroying the lives of others who only wished to be free.

He is soon distracted from his short-lived victory as he hers the agony in Raven's voice as she calls out to Clarke. He turns toward the fire escape and upon seeing the gun his heart drops.

He is overtaken by panic. He can't think.

 _Shit._

*Clarke's POV*

Khol has her now and he knows it. Neither she nor any of her pack can do anything because he could and would pull the trigger faster. She raises her hands in defeat. _Think, think of something Clarke!_

"Any last words." He takes a step forward.

"Duck." Kohl looks confused and in that split second, Clarke leaps forward intending on striking the gun from his hand. She reaches for the gun managing to get it out of his hand, but not before a shot fires hitting her in the leg. She growls but continues her fight. _She is not going to die because one stupid assassin managed to screw up her plan!_ She shifts right there on top of him and goes in for his neck. He covers his neck with one hand while he punches her in the gut with the other. She stumbles, but only briefly before fighting with everything she has.

 _She is not dying today!_

Clarke's teeth meet the soft flesh of Kohl's hand and she tears through it, feeling as the muscles tear, the bones break and the blood begin to flow. The iron taste fills her mouth. The sticky residue of the blood coating her tongue and soaking into her muzzle. He growls at her and as her teeth finally find the skin on his neck, she feels an immense pain in her side and she gasps from the agony. Whimpering from the pain, she loses her grip. She feels the blade slide free from her flesh and lets out one final snarl.

Kohl manages to push her off before he kicks out with his feet. The blow shifts Clarke a few feet backwards. Kohl holds his wounded hand to his chest as he scrambles for the gun. But Clarke manages to get to it first. Her vision is dizzy, and her aim horrendous but she is not going to let him get away. Not this time. He is dying today. He will take her place when the reaper comes to collect.

Quickly shifting forms, she aims the gun and fires. It hits Kohl in the shoulder, but he manages to jump over Clarke, wounded as he was and make for the ladder. Suddenly Bellamy is there to stop him, shoving him backwards where he trips over Clarke's body and knocks his head off the railing.

That's when Clarke watches the assassin go limp right after the sound of another gunshot. Clarke looks around to see who had fired, if it was the assassin again, but it's not. Her sight locks on Raven below who holds a gun wrapped in both hands. Even with the blurry vision, Clarke can still make out the raging look on Raven's face as she refuses to drop the gun.

Clarke lies there panting for a moment before Bellamy rushes over to inspect her, leaving the body of the assassin later.

"Are you okay?" Bellamy's eyes rake over her entire being, his hand pressing lightly to the place beside the wound on her head.

"I'm fine, I'm fine." Clarke pants, her heart thumping hard in her chest. She can't think clearly. She had just faced off an assassin alone. One mind you that was only a few years her elder and new, but she had won. The pack had won. She doesn't feel the pain. She only feels the victory which wraps around her like a cocoon of satisfaction.

"You're not fine. You're in shock." Bellamy says, eyeing the gunshot wound to her leg and the blood seeping through her shirt. Clarke knows somewhere in the back of her mind that she's in shock, but she isn't really registering anything right now. She doesn't feel the pain she knows she should be. She also doesn't register that her thoughts are growing fuzzier as the seconds tick by. She's caught up in coming back to the moment so they can get back on their feet and flee the scene. She'd been dazed ever since Kohl cracked her head against the wall, but now her vision is blurring badly and she feels like she might be sick.

"I'm fine." Clarke waves off Bellamy, but he looks confused. Had her words not come out right? She still feels okay-ish, dizzy yes, but no pain. She looks down at her own body and sees the pool of blood around her legs. Her pale hands, she looks at, are now stained a deep red. She blinks a few times and suddenly tosses her head to the side and throws up. After wiping her mouth, she looks back at Bellamy who is blurring in and out of focus.

"Maybe I'm not okay." Clarke falls backwards, her body no longer holding her up, but Bellamy is there to catch her.

"You're gonna be fine Clarke." Bellamy's voice sounds worried, as he wraps her up in his arms and presses her close to his chest. She notices him looking down and staring at her, evaluating her. She in turn stares at him. She watches his Adam's apple bob slightly and his scent comes to her filled with a sense of fear.

"Bellamy! Get her down here!" Raven yells, breaking the trance, clearly upset over something. "We have to go, now."

"Raven's right, we need to go now." Clarke argues, gently pushing against Bellamy.

"You need blood first." Bellamy brings his wrist to his mouth and tears it open. Before she has time to protest, he presses his wrist to her lips and waits for her to swallow down the blood. She squirms, but he holds her firm. She doesn't want to go through this. Bellamy's not her pack member. Bellamy isn't her mate. He's just a friend and she faintly remembers something happening between them the last time they'd been in a situation like this.

"Stop fighting me," Bellamy whispers in her ear. "You need to heal. My blood healed you once, it will heal you again."

That's what she still didn't get. Why had it healed her that first time? Sure they had basically combined their packs and Bellamy and Clarke ruled as the alphas but they hadn't bonded. There was a ceremony that involved a blood ritual and other things that they hadn't done. So why was his blood healing her?

"Bellamy stop! I'm fine." Clarke protests after swallowing a few gulps and managing finally to shove his hand away. He is still holding her tightly against him and breathing heavily behind her. She won't go through more blood sharing. She will not risk losing more of herself to him at this dire time.

"Clarke, you're not fine." Clarke can feel him glaring at the back of her head.

"I will be when we leave. Raven can heal me." Clarke, now with some pack blood in her system feels slightly stronger. She is able to stand up without falling over and move over to the ladder without throwing up. She is still incredibly dizzy, but she is determined to make it. Raven could help her, not Bellamy. Her wounds weren't closing yet, but she could feel the blood loss coming to an end. That meant she wasn't about to bleed out yet. Good.

"Where's Raven?" Clarke asks before she descends the ladder.

"She doesn't know how badly you're injured Clarke." Bellamy answers.

"Okay, I'll just get down and we'll leave." Clarke turns from Bellamy and focuses on her breathing.

Clarke backs down the ladder, slowly. Each foot placed carefully on the bar below. Each step fighting not to cry out in pain as the shock begins to wear off. She has a massive headache beginning to encompass her mind, along with a fire burning its way through her leg and side, curtesy of being shot and stabbed. She was determined not to pass out. Not yet. She needed to make it down and back to the forest first. But she feels so faint and her body aches. She desperately wants to just let go, fall and then pass out.

"Clarke, let go." A strict, determined voice belonging to Bellamy comes from down below her. _How had he gotten down?_ He'd probably jumped. "Just let me help you."

"I don't want you to risk yourself. Just leave. Jaha will be here soon and you can't be here when he comes." Clarke's head ached and each sound pressed against the sensitive hearing that was now even more amplified. She didn't want to admit she wanted his help. He was already in so much danger because of her. If he stayed behind to help her, she would slow him down too much. She could feel the fear he was feeling and she could feel the anger directed at her for not just listening. She could also feel the affection pressed in his voice and scent, another factor keeping her from just falling into his arms. She couldn't let her heart have him. She couldn't give in to temptation. She couldn't let him stay for Jaha to find and take away from her. She couldn't let him be another person Jaha could take from her. If he took just one look, took just one inhale of their scents, he would know and he would torture Bellamy in front of her just to spite her. Just to prove to her that anyone and anything she would ever care for could and would become his next victim.

They had to go on without her. Bellamy had to go on without her. If Jaha found any of them here, he'd kill them all. Slowly. And he would make her watch as he did it.

Clarke suddenly realizes that she cares for Bellamy more than she should. That this adoration isn't just him for her. That there's something aching inside of Clarke to reach out for him and get lost in him.

"Clarke just let go, please." Bellamy, now sounding desperate. "We need to go. You being stubborn isn't helping."

"I command you all to leave. Now." Clarke manages to gasp out a stern command to her pack. This will ensure they leave and get to safety. Clarke needed them to leave. Now. Before Jaha came within a close enough range to hunt each of them down. Jaha had already said he wasn't going to kill her until he killed everyone she loved first. She was safe, and they were not.

"Clarke…" Raven growled below her.

"Now Raven. Get to safety. I will catch up I swear!" Clarke hangs on for dear life, realizing she's not going to make it down the ladder taking only a step each time. She can't hold on much longer. She's going to pass out.

"You'd better come back to me in one piece, you hear me?" Raven growls up at Clarke before leaving with Miller and Monroe behind her.

"That includes you Bellamy."

"You can't command another alpha Clarke. I'm staying right here. Now let go." Clarke looks down and sees Bellamy cross his arms. Clarke could never let anyone know just how big a weakness he was becoming to her. She would crawl over broken glass to get to him. She would carve out her heart to keep him safe from her affections. She's afraid to let anyone, including him know just what she'd give up to keep him safe from her past, how far she would go to get him back. Would it be the worst thing to allow herself a shred of that temptation he presented her?

No. It wouldn't. Maybe it would be the best thing to ever happen to her.

Would a shred of what he could offer her be enough?

 _No._ If she let herself have only a piece, she would crave more. She would need everything he could give and then some. It wouldn't be fair of her t have him offer her the world, but her to only offer him as little of herself as she could. If he meant anything to her, he risked everything.

Clarke would be strong. She would keep her emotions at bay. She needed to, especially around him. If she wasn't careful, he would convince her to give in and she would. She would lose herself in his deep brown eyes, in the caress of his hand against her skin.

Her growing feelings for him would never disappear, nor would they decrease. He was the kind of romance that had the potential to be legendary. The kind of romance poets wrote about. The kind of romance that never died.

And that is why giving in would be so dangerous. The target on his back would grow. He would never be safe. They would use him first against her and she would cave to any demand. She couldn't risk that. Not yet.

So, as she let's go and falls into his arms, she vows to herself that once this is over, she will find a way to move past the fear of losing those she cares about most. She won't let that fear control how she lets herself feel.

When this is over, she vows that she will let Bellamy in.

"Why are you always so Goddamn stubborn?" Bellamy chuckles with a hint of a smile on his face. He looks down at her with his deep brown eyes and she remembers her vow.

"I don't know…" Her eyes catch his and she smiles. "Now let's get out of here before Jaha shows up." Clarke wiggles in his arms until he lets her down and they walk off into the woods, Clarke limping and Bellamy holding her up. He looks at her and smiles and she slowly smiles back.

Ten minutes into their journey, Bellamy turns towards her, "let me carry you. We'll get back faster." Bellamy begins to go to pick her up when she sees the headlights. Sees them directly behind Bellamy. _Anything, she would do anything to keep him safe_. Instinctively she jumps in front of him. It's only a few seconds later when Clarke suddenly hears the noises. The noise of gunshots being fired. She sees Bellamy's face contort into one of pain and rage first right as she turns and meets Bellamy's stare.

"Clarke!" Bellamy screams as she finally notices what Bellamy is screaming at. Clarke's chest is beginning to gush blood just as Bellamy's mid center is. She doesn't feel anything at first. No more pain than she had been feeling, but that is the shock. Second, she feels the horror and pain rushing through Bellamy and into her. Third, she notices her vision blurring and her legs beginning to stumble from beneath her.

"I'm sorry," Clarke gasps, blood pooling into her mouth. He won't know why she's apologizing. He won't know that it's because this is all her doing. That if she hadn't come into his life, he'd be safe back in his little house in the woods. That he wouldn't be on the run. That because she cares for him, a target will permanently be on his back.

She wants to tell him. She wants to apologize again and again, but the darkness clouds her vision and words will no longer form. The thick sensation of blood and the taste of iron in her mouth makes her forget any other thought.

She reaches for Bellamy before collapsing to the ground, needing to convey her message somehow. The feeling in her body begins to fade along with her narrowing vision. It won't be long now before she is claimed by another world.

With her blood pooling around her, her mouth shapes his name over and over as she begins to convulse on the ground and her vision finally goes dark as unconsciousness claims her.

 _I'm sorry._


	23. Chapter 23

*Octavia's POV*

Octavia watched as her brother left with the other four shifters going off to kill an assassin. Ugh, she had wanted to join them, but she'd been told not to. Actually, she'd been commanded not to follow them. But that's where Octavia thought outside the box. She wasn't going to follow them. She already knew where they were going. She didn't need to find them. She just needed to locate Lincoln. Now was her perfect opportunity to ask him for his advice and help and well, see him again. She knew Bellamy and Clarke had talked about him, knew that they both wanted to meet him and had agreed to setting up a time. They had told her earlier that they would find him and see if he could help after they took care of the first assassin. They just didn't have time earlier to see this friend of hers.

Octavia was glad of this. More alone time between her and Lincoln before he was dragged even further into the life threatening to kill them all.

Plan in mind, she silently slips out of the motel room intending on finding Lincoln. She leaves Fox inside the motel room, hoping she wouldn't follow her. She would call to Lincoln if she had to. But she knew that no matter where she went he would find her. He always did.

Five steps into the lot and asshole John Murphy stops her in her tracks. She'd forgotten he was on patrol.

"Where you going little wolf?" Murphy asks as he follows her out into the parking lot.

"None of your business." Octavia snaps back. It's not as if he cared about her. He only cared about his own skin. The real reason he was stopping her, wasn't because he cared if she got hurt, but that if Bellamy caught him, he'd be punished. Especially since Wells.

"If Bellamy comes back and finds out you left on my watch… He'll kill me." Murphy's hands ball into fists. She can feel the anger rising beneath his skin as it coats the air. Hers in turn begins to bubble. There was a fine line between the girl and the wolf. Most of the time the line remained clear. Right now, however, as she senses the challenge given from Murphy, the line begins to blur. If he wanted to fight her over this, she would let the wolf run the show and fight back. She disliked Murphy, almost always had and now that they were in danger and he was being a coward, hiding at home while his pack, his friends, went out and put their lives on the line for him.

It pissed her off. She'd been commanded not to go, what was his excuse?

"Oh please. Don't be so dramatic. Bellamy won't even know I've left. I'll be back before then." Octavia answers, hands fisted on her hips. She was getting mighty pissed off. Her eyes begin to glow while a growl climbs deep in her throat and she knows the shift is eagerly jumping beneath her skin. She wants to smack him. She wants to yell at him to not be a coward. To go join Bellamy and Clarke and help them. But she doesn't because it wouldn't make a difference.

"Don't care. I don't have a death wish." Murphy moves towards her, probably to grab her and drag her back inside. But she'd been learning and training these past few days. She'd gained some valuable knowledge about just how to take down someone coming after her. So, the moment he aims to wrap his arms around her, she instinctually punches him in the face. He cries out holding his now bleeding and broken nose. She internally leaps for joy because this is new and she's never done it before and it worked and it's _Murphy_.

"Sorry, Murphy, but you had that coming." Octavia mocks before quickly rushing off into the woods before he can follow again.

"Lincoln?" Octavia calls twenty minutes later when she reaches the little meadow they'd met at previously. She knows he watches her from time to time. Hopefully now is one of those times. She's moved past the creepy feeling of it. Now it just feels endearing. Like he's her guardian angel.

"Lincoln?" She calls again, hoping that he's out here and she didn't just run off into the woods to be alone. Moments pass and she begins to think that maybe he isn't going to come. But then his scent hits her and she sighs in relief.

"Right here. I thought I told you not to come. It's dangerous to be around me." Lincoln says as he comes out from behind her. His eyes are wide, his nose taking in the scent of her. Her heart immediately begins to race. Internally sparks begin to fly at seeing him. He's here and she's here and it feels right. Two pieces of the puzzle finally fitting together. It feels good. She missed him, can't even relay just how much she missed him. She wants him near her. Wants him to hold her close and never let her go.

His eyes dazzle in the fading light. She takes a step forward, but if she starts she knows they may not stop.

"I don't care. All you've ever done is heal me. You're not dangerous. If anything, I'm more dangerous to be around. The assassins are after us and every time you meet me, you're putting yourself in danger. Besides I need your help. We need your help." Octavia says, watching the way his eyes take her in just as she takes in him. All fire and passion. He's so tall and muscular and her lips ache to be touched by his. But she can't embrace him, not yet. Right now, she was here for information. After she could have him kiss away her fears.

"Why? What's going on? Have the assassins decided to ignore the rules?" Lincoln asks, concern etched on his face. He takes a step towards her, but she's puts a hand out. If he came any closer, the fire in his eyes would meld with the fire in her heart and she'd never let go. She wants him, every atom in her body is screaming for her to just touch him, feel him, take him. But she can't and she must restrain herself.

"What rules? Lincoln what do you know?" Her eyes open wide and pierce into his. What did he know that he wasn't telling them? Why wouldn't he just tell her everything?

"Just enough. They don't go near humans and they avoid human establishments if they can. Except when they're hunting for women. Even then, they don't stay long. What's going on Octavia? I can't help unless you tell me what's happening." Lincoln takes another step towards her and she meets his gaze. Again, fire erupts in her body, singing in response to his.

"I told them about you. Now they want to meet you." Octavia says, scared of what he will say.

"You told them about me?" Lincoln seems upset now and Octavia is sorry she ever told Bellamy about him. She just wanted to help. She just wanted her pack to be safe. She's naïve. She knows she's naïve, but in moments like these, she wishes she wasn't.

"Yes, I thought they should know. I thought you could help us. Maybe teach us what you know. You've avoided them in the past." Octavia doesn't like that he looks betrayed. That this is something she should have kept secret. She wants the world to know about them. She wants the world to know that he is hers. It hurts that maybe he doesn't feel the same way.

"Octavia, there's a reason I didn't just announce myself." Lincoln's anger has resided and now she feels the frustration radiate off of him. He's upset. She guesses he should be. She didn't talk to him first about telling Bellamy and Clarke about him. She guesses she would be upset too.

"Why, what do you have to hide?" Octavia startles as she realizes she doesn't actually know him. She feels like she's known him forever. Feels like she can trust him with her life. But what does she actually know about him? It's been mere weeks and they've never discussed personal details about one another. It's always been about the fire. She knows so very little and she should be nervous about that. But she's not.

"It doesn't matter. Octavia what do you need my help with?" Lincoln runs a hand down the side of his face, but he reaches for her anyway. It's as if he's worked through what he's just been told. But again, she doesn't let him touch her. If she did, she would get lost in his touch and forget why she came here in the first place.

"My brother and Clarke, they're going after an assassin with some of the pack. Right now. They're going to kill one. Or they plan to anyway. They've been tracking him and it seems like they have things handled, but there's always the risk when it comes to the assassins. I want to know what you know so that we can help them. I don't want them to die." Octavia accepts Lincoln's outstretched hand in her own, finally, but the moment she does he backs off. She feels hurt by it. Here she'd finally been reaching out for him, and he didn't accept her.

"They're going after an assassin?" Lincoln is surprised and nervous by this bit of knowledge.

"Yes. Why do you look so scared? They're just going after one. He'll be by himself. There's five of them. They'll be okay. Won't they?" Octavia reaches for him again but he turns away from her. A hand flits across his eyes and he sighs. The fire of the moment is gone as worry floods through Octavia.

"How could Clarke be so stupid? They're not going to kill one. They're going to be massacred. This will only anger them more Octavia. If they kill one, all bets are off." Lincoln looks at her and she sees the fear in his eyes. Fear that she's never seen there before. He's truly worried. And that makes her truly worried.

"You know Clarke? What do you mean? There's only going to be one Lincoln. Then they're getting out of there." Octavia pauses, searching his gaze for information, but he's giving nothing away. He had been worried and then upset and she didn't know how to react right now. "Talk to me, please. This is my brother. My pack."

"Look, if you want to save your pack, we need to get them now before they offer themselves up on a silver platter for the assassins to pick off." The fear in Lincoln spreads to Octavia.

Oh God, what had they done?

*Bellamy's POV*

Bellamy had been watching her struggle to get down. She was just too stubborn to ask for his help. The help he was clearly willing to be giving. When she finally caved, he'd like to think they had shared a moment. A quick moment before she regained the mask she wore when he was around. A mask he was determined to tear down.

Ten or so minutes into their journey back to the motel, he turns towards her. It would be best for him to just carry her. So, he brings it up to her.

"Let me carry you. We'll get back faster." Bellamy is determined to help her, even if she is unwilling to accept his help. But before he gets an answer, he sees her eyes go wide, watches the recognition dawn in them as he hears a vehicle approach. Bellamy watches Clarke look horrified, and jump in front of him as the sound of gunshots is heard by Bellamy's sensitive ears. He feels the pain before he sees the wound. Clarke turns around to face him and he stares at her. He watches Clarke's eyes grow glossy before he realizes that not only had he been hit, but so had she.

"Clarke!" Bellamy bellows into the night. The fear coursing through his veins is enough to make him reach out for her.

"I'm sorry," Bellamy watches the blood pool at the corner of her mouth before it spills over her lips and she collapses to the ground. It must be a silver bullet that hit her. He feels his own bullet inside of him, slowly burning, but there's nothing he can do about it right now. He reaches for her again, roaring her name as he watches her form his name on her lips. She begins convulsing in front of him and he can do nothing to help her. He's never felt so helpless.

"Clarke, stay with me." He calls out to her, falling down next to her, reaching for her. He watches the blood seep through her already blood-stained shirt. He hisses as he presses a hand to his abdomen where he had been shot. He looks at the sticky blood coating his hand before he looks back to Clarke. Her skin is pale and she has stopped convulsing. That could be a good sign, or a very bad one.

"I'm gonna kill them for this." Bellamy growls, carefully moving over to Clarke's side. He looks once behind him, watching who he assumes are the assassins' friends get out of the black truck and scan the woods for them, before he looks back to Clarke.

He quickly checks for a pulse, finding one, weak but there. Her breathing is weak and shallow. Satisfied, he puts one hand under her shoulders and another under her knees and hoists her up. He needs to get her back to the motel, to Raven. He cringes as the wound in his abdomen cries out in agony. But he won't leave her here.

And they can't stay.

"Don't you dare die on me Clarke. I swear, if you die, I will have Raven kill me and then I'll find you and drag you back." Bellamy presses her close to his chest and starts off at a run. He cannot lose Clarke. _He will not lose Clarke._ He will get her back to the motel and they _will_ heal her. He runs as fast as his legs will carry him with a wounded girl in his arms and a hole in his intestines.

He can hear the assassins on his trail, chasing him down. He's going to get as far from them as he can before his legs give out. He's heard so many humans speak of luck and yet Bellamy's never had luck on his side.

 _Please please please._

He hears the gunshot before he feels it hit him in the shoulder. The momentum of the gunshot knocks Bellamy off of his feet and Clarke goes flying into a nearby tree while Bellamy himself crashes into the ground beside her.

 _Damn it!_

He drags himself over to Clarke's side. He notices that she has been shot again in the abdomen and he curses the heavens. If he was going to die, he was going to die fighting to protect her. He was going to sacrifice his life for hers, just as she'd been willing to do only minutes ago. She was his mate and he wouldn't lose her. The fire singing through his veins pulses harder and harder the more he feels the life draining from her limbs. He doesn't have much time before it's too late to save her.

Bellamy shifts quickly and bares his teeth. He crouches, protectively over Clarke's still body before growling low at the first assassin to come around the trees. Bellamy snaps menacingly, guarding the girl he'd fallen for. He crouches low before leaping off the ground and throwing his full body weight into the assassin ahead of him. Both crash to the ground as Bellamy ferociously attacks with everything he has in him. The first gunshot misses Bellamy, but he doesn't grow cocky because of it. Instead he goes straight for the assassin's neck like he'd done before, but he is gaining no ground. Instead the assassin has him pinned in a hold, the sound of a blade being unsheathed reaching his ears.

Bellamy cannot risk being stabbed. While a wolf he has no power being held down. No hands to grab with, no powerful legs to hold his oppressor down. So, he shifts back and roars as he makes to disarm the assassin. His arm pins down the assassin below him while his other forces the knife from his hand. Bellamy goes in for a swift punch to the gut before he punches with everything he has into the assassin's face.

The assassin knees Bellamy in his injured side before rolling out from under him. Bellamy growls in pain as he turns to face the assassin hand to hand. The assassin has no gun and he's lost his knife so now it's just Bellamy's strength against his.

Bellamy lunges first aiming for his chest, hoping to knock him off of his feet, but the assassin side steps and with an out stretched arm barrels into Bellamy. Bellamy is thrown from his feet, crashing into a tree. Regaining his balance, he turns to the assassin once more and manages to hit him in the face again. The assassin punches Bellamy back before side stepping him and tripping Bellamy. Bellamy falls to the ground once more, determined to win this fight before the other assassins get here. They can't be far away. He knew each had gone in a different direction to track and find him and Clarke. This one must have followed the blood trail and the others would catch on soon.

Bellamy wipes the blood from his mouth before he growls. A growl echoed by another. Another he recognizes. Another that should most definitely not have been here. Bellamy turns his gaze to see a white and black wolf leap out and tackle the assassin to the ground. A wolf bearing the scent of his sister. A wolf who goes in for the kill, not caring for her own safety. Bellamy is impressed for a moment before he remembers the dire situation.

"Octavia!" Bellamy calls to his sister. She has managed to either kill or knock the assassin out. He needs her help to get Clarke out of here. Octavia looks at him, blood covering her muzzle. She moves towards him cocking a head towards Clarke. And then they're not alone. A muscular, darker skinned man comes barrelling out of the tree line heading straight for Clarke.

Bellamy has shifted before Octavia can say a word and he races to Clarke's side ready to defend her from the second assassin. He presses close to her and growls at the man, snapping and snarling with every step he makes towards them.

 _Please please please._ They can't die here.

"Stop! Bell, he's here to help!" Octavia screams at her brother, now human once more. "Just trust me."

Bellamy trusted his sister above all others, but not when it came to this stranger. This stranger that seemed familiar. In the heat of the moment he wasn't sure where or when or how he'd met this stranger. He was weary. He didn't want this man anywhere near injured Clarke. She couldn't defend herself and Bellamy couldn't defend her if some random man took her. The wolf will not let go of his mate. He will not surrender her. He would fight anyone who tried to so much as look at her wrong. The man knows he can't hold this up for long. He knows he's weakening by the second. They don't have much longer. He must make a decision.

"Bellamy! Just trust me, okay?" Octavia pleads with him. "Let him take her."

With a deep growl, Bellamy relinquishes his control over his defenseless partner to a man he didn't trust. But he trusted his sister and he really had no other choice. Bellamy steps away from Clarke's body, watching the new man carefully. He didn't smell like a shifter, but there was something different about him. Something new. Something familiar. But Bellamy really didn't have time to figure it out as a second assassin came over the treeline.

Bellamy shifts back to his human form and looks to Lincoln. "Anything happens to her and you're dead. You get her to safety." Bellamy knows he sounds menacing. He couldn't lose Clarke. He wouldn't lose Clarke. The fire singing through his veins at the thought of her dying, viscously rises up, willing him to fight harder.

"Bell!" Octavia calls to him. She's just taken the legs out from under the second assassin and is urging him to run with her. Bellamy looks back over to Clarke and she and the new guy are gone. Dread flows through Bellamy, but he has to put his faith in this new human. It's all he can do.

"Run Octavia, run and don't look back." Bellamy turns towards his sister praying she heeds his warning. He can't lose both Clarke and Octavia in one night. It would kill him. He shifts, hoping his four legs will carry him better than two. His breaths become laboured as he picks up his pace and can't sustain it. The blood loss is beginning to take its toll. He is growing weaker with every passing second.

 _"_ _Need some help there Bellamy?"_ Raven comes crashing through the trees and to his side. _"Tell me Clarke is okay."_

 _"_ _She's not okay Raven, but neither will we if we don't get out of here now."_ Bellamy is succumbing to his injuries. He needs help. He can't make it back on his own.

 _"_ _I'm gonna kill her when we get back."_ Raven grumbles. _"Now stay close. I'll keep you safe."_

Bellamy nods his head and keeps close to her side. He is trailing blood everywhere, but there's no way to stop the blood flow. Not without pack blood. He couldn't ask Raven. He had somehow sensed that his blood sharing with Clarke was some kind of fluke, but with Raven, he automatically knew it wouldn't work. So, he had to make it back to the motel where the pack could heal him.

 _"_ _Where's Clarke?"_ Raven asks, a few minutes into their travels. They haven't run into any assassins yet and Bellamy wonders why.

 _"_ _Hopefully safe."_ _Please let her be safe._ Bellamy begs with the gods above to keep her safe and alive until he could get back to her. The look Raven gives him says he'd better pray hard.

 _"_ _She had better be okay after this."_ Raven snaps. Bellamy can sense her growing rage and his wolf hums in response to the anger. That was his mate that was dying, his pack mate. The wolf's anger grew, but the man's mind takes over and calms the wolf down.

 _"_ _Why aren't the assassins attacking?"_ Bellamy asks, changing the subject. He's worried Raven might attack him if they keep talking about how he'd failed to keep Clarke safe. He's worried the wolf will take over and he will lose control if they keep talking of Clarke.

 _"_ _Monroe and Miller have us covered from behind. They're taking care of them while I get you back to the motel where we'll be safe. They won't attack us at the motel. We're almost there."_ Raven says, pointing ahead with her nose.

 _"_ _Good."_ Bellamy was going to murder Octavia for coming near this fight, but first he was going to check on Clarke and the new man Octavia had brought with her.

Raven and Bellamy shift back together once they hit the edge of the treeline and the motel is within sight. Bellamy slings an arm around Raven's shoulders, desperately trying to stay upright. He needs to make it to the hotel. He needs to make sure Clarke made it there. That she was alright.

The pair make their way towards the motel room, Bellamy moving as quickly as he can towards the room he can sense Clarke is in. He shoves the door open and pushes his way through Fox and Murphy towards the bed where he sees Clarke lying, still unconscious.

"You two, get out! One of you, get on patrol. Watch for Monroe and Miller." Raven yells, her voice carrying the threat of dismemberment if they didn't listen. Fox and Murphy leave, one off to one of the other rooms they have and one off on patrol.

Bellamy walks over to the bed, clutching his abdomen. He briefly notices Octavia and the stranger moving quickly away from Clarke's body as he comes through the door. The pair moving to stand off in the corner. But he doesn't care. He only has eyes for the unconscious girl lying on the bed. Her skin is white and her lips are the palest shade of pink. He can see her chest moving only barely. Bellamy slowly sinks onto the mattress beside her still body, brushing a stray curl out of her face. His body hums in response to the closeness of her. His body singing in response to his mate being so close. His wolf finally relents and he can breathe. But she's still unconscious and he must protect her. He must heal her.

Bellamy notices that her pant leg has been cut off and her right leg has been patched up. Who had done that? Not that he's complaining. He also notices her head isn't bleeding like before. Instead it has begun to bruise. Purple and blue blotches covering her face. His blood must be helping her heal. Even with his blood in her system, it will take a few hours depending on how intensive the damage is for her to heal. It looks bad, but Bellamy knows she's beginning to heal. She has to be. His wolf is begging him to give her more blood. It is urging him to wake his mate. Urging him to bring her closer and never let her go.

"Bellamy, you need my blood and then Lincoln here is going to look at you, okay?" Octavia's voice comes from the corner of the room, but he doesn't register it for a minute. He only registers the barely breathing alpha female in front of him. The one he would do anything for. The one he would almost always pick first. The one he would always be there for.

"Her first, okay?" Bellamy straightens. He can't very well heal Clarke if he has no blood left in his own system though. So, he waits for Octavia. Octavia approaches Bellamy while Raven goes over to Clarke. Bellamy watches Raven rip her wrist open and poor the blood into Clarke's mouth begging her to swallow it. Bellamy looks away when Octavia comes up to him and tears open her own wrist, giving it to him. He lets the iron taste flow through his mouth briefly before gently pushing her hand away.

"Thank you, O." Bellamy gently smiles at her and then his focus lands on the man in the background. The one who hasn't said a word since he arrived. "Who are you?"

"He's a healer Bellamy. He can help. I promise." There was something Octavia was leaving out, but he didn't care. Not right now. Right now, he needed this healer, if he indeed was what she said he was, to fix Clarke.

"You can help her?" Bellamy looks to the man who nods. "Then do it."

"His name is Lincoln and a please would be nice Bellamy. I get that you're worried Bellamy, but you don't need to take it out on everyone else." Octavia gently presses a hand against her brother's arm, but he pulls away from her touch. Her touch does nothing to comfort him.

"Nothing else matters but her making it." Bellamy stares at Clarke's near lifeless body and he can't help but think that if she died there was no way he would be able to tell her how he truly felt. That maybe he should have just kissed her. Maybe been more persistent. Made her see that they were meant to be. He thought about all that time wasted between them. Thought that if she died, he would never have a mate. Never have a soulmate. He couldn't lose her. She meant more to him than even he could admit.

"You love her." Lincoln spoke the statement as if it was the only answer in the world.

"Goddamn it. Yes, I love her." Bellamy closes his eyes and looks away from Clarke meeting the gaze of the man named Lincoln. The one who seems so familiar, but he can't place from where. He can't lose this girl. He can't lose Clarke. If he lost her… he didn't know what would happen. "Now fix her!" Bellamy roars, surprising everyone in the room. Bellamy swears he sees Raven look smug, but he doesn't care. He only cares about Lincoln fixing Clarke.

Octavia looks at him with a gaping mouth.

"Don't look so shocked Octavia, it was bound to happen at some point." Bellamy grumbles towards her, eyeing Lincoln the whole time. He doesn't care for the shocked look Octavia has plastered on her face. He doesn't care that he never thought he'd settle for anyone, much less this alpha girl. But he has. He has and it scares him. But the thought of losing her scares him even more.

"You, I know you." Raven suddenly accuses, pointing to Lincoln. "Where do I know you from?"

"I worked with Clarke at the bar." Lincoln answers and it hits Bellamy. So, this is where he knows Lincoln from. He knew there was something familiar about him. But how did he know about them? What exactly did he know? But there's no time to ask right now because Clarke starts seizing again.

Lincoln ignores Raven, gently pushing her aside so he can access Clarke. Bellamy freezes.

Bellamy watches then as Lincoln inspects Clarke and gets to work. After he inspects her throat, his gaze cuts to her chest. He begins to cut her shirt off and Octavia sidles up to Bellamy. "You should leave."

"I'm not leaving her in here with some man who could just as easily kill her as save her." Bellamy clenches his fists together. He swore silently to himself that if Clarke died he would never forgive himself. She had jumped in front of him. He had been there to save her, not the other way around.

"She wouldn't want you to see her like this. Raven will be here the whole time." Octavia gently coaxes Bellamy out of the room.

"If anything happens to her…" Bellamy sits on a bench just outside of the room. He runs a hand over his eyes. He couldn't lose her. He'd only just found her. There's so much he'd yet to do with her. So much he'd yet to tell her. And he wants to. So, he's going to. She's going to wake up so he can do what he wants to.

"She's one of the strongest people I know Bell. If anyone is going to pull through this, it'll be her." Octavia presses a hand against his shoulder. "You should get some rest. You need to heal."

"I can't sleep knowing that she might be in there dying and there's nothing I can do." Bellamy wipes at his face, swearing that he was not going to cry. He didn't cry. But he had, he had cried once with Clarke. He had let her in where no one had been before. He couldn't lose her. He promised himself, that if – No, when she woke up he would never let her go. That he would tell her just what she meant to him. Promised himself he would always keep her close and never leave her side.

"I know, but if she wakes up and sees you like this, she'll be pissed. You need a bath and some sleep. She'll be just as mad at you as you are at her. So, go get some rest and heal. I swear I'll let you know if anything changes." Octavia pulls Bellamy to his feet and pulls him into a hug. He isn't bleeding anymore, but that doesn't stop the blood coating his body from rolling off onto Octavia. It doesn't stop the burning from the bullets to cease either. But he won't complain.

Bellamy nods resigned. There's nothing more he can do. Raven is in there with her and she'll make sure nothing happens to the alpha female. His alpha female. So, he listens to Octavia's advice.

Bellamy silently heads into the next motel room. Murphy looks at him, something he hasn't done in days. He almost looks sorry. Bellamy doesn't really care right now. He just wants to sink into a warm bath and think about what he'd just been forced to realize.

He shuts the bathroom door behind him and waits for the tub to fill. He's pretty sure he still has bullets in him if the burning is any indication, but he needs a bath first and Clarke needs the attention more than him. Lincoln will need to remove the silver bullets after he looks at Clarke and the rest of the pack. Bellamy would always put his pack first.

Bellamy slowly strips each piece of clothing off of himself. He looks at the wound in his shoulder first and then the wound where the bullet had gone straight through Clarke and into him. God, why had she taken that bullet for him? It hadn't even stopped from hitting him. Why was she so hell bent on saving everyone but herself? Bellamy craves the answers he knows he will not get. Not yet.

He lets the water wash away the worries in his mind, if only briefly. He thinks about how he'd admitted that he loved Clarke. Out loud. In front of his sister and some stranger. He hadn't even realized it himself until that moment. But he did. He loved her. He loved her stubborn beautiful mind. He loved how they fought and made up. He loved how she would smile at him. Loved how she would rather lose herself in the process of saving everyone else. Well no, he hated that actually. He just wanted to keep her in a bubble of his own making and never let her get hurt again. But she would never allow it and he had to think in terms of their partnership. She was going to get hurt and he had to let her.

And then there was this new guy. What did he want? Who was he? Why did he know about them? How did he know about them? How did Octavia even meet him? This guy must be her friend. He was determined to find out all of the above while he waited for Clarke to wake up. Because she was going to wake up. He would will it with everything he had in him.

He gets out of the tub with a new purpose. Find out what Lincoln was here for and why he was so willing to help. Find out if he meant them danger or help. Then he would face what these new intense feelings for Clarke would mean for the pack and for the pair as friends.


	24. Chapter 24

**_*Chapter 24*_**

*Miller's POV*

Miller walks back with a very frustrated Raven. She's grumbling and he understands. He's upset that Clarke commanded them to leave. It should have been their choice to stay behind with her or not. They had left of their own free will. They had chosen to fight back. However, frustrated as he feels, he knows that she just wanted to protect them and keep them safe. She was and had always been self-sacrificing. She would rather bring everything down upon herself than let anyone else face its wrath. Clarke had taken the recent deaths of their pack members hard and with that her willingness to put them all before her was at an all-time high. He too, hadn't had the time required to grieve and could sympathize with his alpha. If he was a leader, how willing would he be to watch his soldiers die? To then have to leave before they could be properly mourned and buried? To continue making decisions, knowing that whatever choices had been made would decide the fate of your remaining soldiers?

But he was no leader. He was, however, a willing soldier in this war. As a soldier, he understood that with war came death and sacrifice and difficult choices. Clarke wasn't willing to let them fight _for_ her, so he had agreed to fight _with_ her.

By sending them off, she wasn't respecting the choice he and the others had made when they had fled and took up arms. He was by no means offended, but he had lived a life with so few choices given to him. This was his choice. He wanted to fight with her. He wanted to be there to protect her when Abby's wrath came to crush her.

He understands. He does. He was a soldier, not a leader.

But he wishes Clarke would just let them shoulder some of the burden for once.

The group walks along the cold hardening ground beginning to freeze with the cooler air. The twigs snap beneath their feet as they continue forward, each one keeping to their own mind.

Miller himself changes his train of thought to how his life had nearly ended earlier. If that bullet had been just another few inches to the right, it would have struck him and he would likely be dead.

Letting the cool rush of night air seep into his bones, he reminds himself that it had missed. That he was alive.

And Clarke.

And Raven.

And everyone else who'd chosen to go tonight.

 _They were all alive._

This had been a victory.

They were all going to make it through the night.

The thought suddenly shatters as Octavia comes bounding through the woods towards them with some strange man at her back. Miller tenses along with the weary group; _Had something happened back at the motel?_

Miller prepares himself for whatever news Octavia has run all this way to bring to briefly explains to them that this plan was only going to anger the assassins and that they were all in true danger right now.

Miller's mind immediately goes to Clarke, stuck behind them somewhere. She was injured and she only had Bellamy with her. The pair were much closer to any potential further assault by the assassins. Overcoming dread and rage fills him. He needs to go now.

A growl from Raven breaks through his thoughts. He was not the beast this form made him out to be. His mind, his _human mind_ , controlled this form.

Bellamy was with her and he would protect her with his life. He knows this. He knows that Bellamy harboured deep feelings for Clarke. It hadn't been so apparent in the beginning, but he'd noticed the pair growing closer the past few days. Whether Clarke was as interested still remained to be seen.

He could be happy for them if they weren't in the middle of a war.

Calming his rage, he shoves the beast back into the corner.

"We need to go back." Raven calls out, another growl deep in her voice. Miller echoes it. He needs to be with his alpha. Even if nothing happened tonight, the bond and security of the pack was a much better alternative.

"What do we do?" Monroe asks, ready to fight again, but not sure how to go about it. She looks at Miller for answers. He in turn looks to Raven, giving her the respect due to Clarke's second.

"We go back. We split off in pairs. Octavia and her new friend can go find Bellamy and Clarke and the three of us will go hold the line. If they come, we'll keep them back long enough for Octavia to warn Clarke and Bellamy and get them out of there. Octavia, signal when they're safe. We'll meet back in the room." Miller's head snaps up as Raven finishes her speech. She was Clarke's second and therefore in charge of making the decisions when the alpha was gone. It's not her speech that catches Miller's attention. It's the gun shots he hears off in the distance.

His ears perk and try to tune in to the direction they came from. They would feel it when their alpha died, but not when she was injured. Nor if Bellamy had been wounded.

"We need to go. Now." Miller hastily looks to his side at Monroe who nods her head grimly beside him. He grows anxious as the seconds tick by. Each second, they waited, would be another second for her to bleed out or for the assassin's aim to reach its mark.

"Go you two. Get them before it's too late." Raven says, quickly shifting back into the beautiful wolf she was. Miller looks to Monroe and together they move. Raven doesn't wait for them to go after her, she just speeds off on a mission to save her alpha. Miller doesn't complain, Raven always put Clarke first and she always would. It was second nature as not only Clarke's second, but her kindred. Her bonded. Miller just tried to keep up.

Together Monroe and Miller dash off back in the direction they had just come from. As Miller runs, he feels Monroe beside him. He knows the two were meant to be friends. Partners. And he wonders if maybe… maybe he'd found his kindred? That wasn't something for him to think about now. He didn't know her well enough yet, but it was something he wanted to find out once they were safe. There was also the thought that maybe what he was feeling wasn't the bond between kindred, but that of a new pack forming. Miller had always been in one pack, there had never been new members, so he didn't know what it was like to gain a member of the pack. Losing a pack member. That was different. He felt it the moment one of them died. Each member of the pack felt it shoot through their bones and echo off their souls. They each felt the loss somehow.

He knew what it felt like to feel the death of his friends. The chill that seeped in through the chest and made it difficult to breath. He knew how it felt to want to mourn, but not be able to. He had lost and he had suffered.

But not tonight.

Tonight, he was determined he wouldn't lose another.

Miller sees the bright lights from the truck before he finds any assassins. The truck seems to just be sitting in the woods, the keys in the ignition, but no driver on board. Miller recognizes this truck. It's from back _there_. It's one of the vehicles the assassins transport themselves in. The scents from the group of assassins' hits Miller, nearly making the contents of his stomach come back up.

For months, he'd been tormented by them. For months, he'd almost begged for death. For months, he'd prayed to every God and Goddess the world had ever once acknowledged to strike them down.

Now they were here. These particular assassins. A nightmare, come to life, not just for him. Oh, Abby had a sense of humour. A dark one. She'd known just what had plagued them, just who haunted their dreams. She'd known their deepest fears and then sent them to come claim the disobedient children who'd escaped. He now knows exactly who hunts them and that if each of them couldn't overcome their own personal terrors, just how fucked they would be.

 _"_ _Miller?"_ Monroe asks, cautiously stepping towards him, patiently waiting, a question in her gaze.

Within a moment he understands why. He's been paralyzed to this spot and his scent likely stinks of fear. The scents hadn't bothered her, but he'd become locked in a battle with his greatest fears come back to life.

It was only a scent. Only a scent. They were not here. The only power they could wield remained in his memory. Only his mind could crush him, if he allowed it. He would not let the fear cripple him.

 _"_ _I'm okay. Just keep an eye out while I find their scents. It'll just be you and me. Raven is fine on her own. She has a habit of doing her own thing."_ Miller watches Monroe go to the left while he goes to the right. He searches the ground, sniffing along the way, doing his best to block out the scents that would drag rather unpleasant memories from where he's shoved them deep. He is doing this for his pack, so that they could all be free and so that the next generation had no understanding of just what many of the others suffered. To have a better future he needed to push his past so far down that not even the sound of one their names had the power to paralyze him with fear.

Unfortunately, wanting to shove the memories and fears away doesn't exactly mean they disappear.

In his search, he finally finds both Clarke and Bellamy's scent, blood mixed into the scent trail they've left. Of course, weaved in alongside their scents belong those to two assassins likely right on their trail. Two very old, very experienced assassins.

He sighs because he knows what he's going to do. No matter how paralyzing the fear became, he would always be ready to face death for his friends, for anyone he cared about. Octavia and her companion were going after Clarke and Bellamy, but with two elite assassins on their trail, it was likely the pair wouldn't make it before the assassins' caught up to them.

The plan forms in his mind and maybe it's stupid, but it's the best he can come up with. He just needs to ask Monroe. She might not be as ready to face death as he is. Or something much worse.

He's going to track the trackers and then lead them away.

 _"_ _Monroe… I got their scents, and I have a plan, but you might not like it. Following Clarke and Bellamy are two highly elite assassins. I'm going to follow the trail to them and hopefully lead them away, let them distract themselves with me. Do you still want to do this with me? I'd understand if you want to leave now. This is going to be dangerous and if we aren't killed, but get captured, I promise you, we'll both wish they'd killed us."_ He doesn't want to terrify her, but she has to know that what she will be getting into isn't a decision for her to just jump into. He would be willing to do almost anything for Clarke and his pack. He would not force Monroe to do the same.

 _"_ _Then let's not get caught. I trust you Miller, and I want to fight with you. Even if that means we could die tonight."_ Monroe stares at him with a determination in her eyes and Miller knows he was meant to meet her. He knows that there is something developing between them, something more than just friendship. But there is no time to figure it out right now.

Miller races through the woods, Monroe at his side. The two had been shot at multiple times and were being chased down by a fast-moving assassin carrying an automatic rifle. Miller pants alongside Monroe. His chest is heaving due to the blood loss, but he won't give up. They may have been a little stupid in taunting the assassin, but his plan had worked. Miller hadn't meant to trip him, just to grab his attention and run. But well, when did things ever go according to plan for this pack?

Miller's ears perk up as he hears the distinct howl of Raven. She's made it back to the motel. That's a signal. It was time to get out of here.

 _"_ _C'mon. Time to leave. Run as fast as you can. That assassin won't cross the border of the woods."_ Hopefully. He doesn't voice that word, however as he calls to Monroe. He notices she is limping and anger overtakes the fear rising within him. He wants to shred the neck of the assassin who shot her. The fear coursing through his veins does not entirely vacate his body reminding him not to be reckless. They are still alive, but not out of danger.

They're trying to outrace both the assassins and their bullets. Their run out of these woods is one for their lives and no outcome is guaranteed. One wrong step, one second not weaving, could mean another hole to the gut.

Returning his mind to more important thoughts, together, they race against the odds.

*Raven's POV*

Raven watches as the man named Lincoln works on Clarke. She keeps her eyes fixated on his hands, making sure everything possible is done to save her alpha. Her best friend. Her kindred. The feeling there was something familiar about him came to be as he announced he had worked with Clarke at the bar she'd previously been working at. But there's something else she can't seem to place. She tosses that thought aside. It really doesn't matter right now. What matters is Clarke healing, waking up and being okay.

She listens to her own heartbeat. Listens as her body reaches out to the tether holding her and Clarke together. The bond tethered between them like an invisible rope. Raven feels the strength still there. She knows Clarke is strong. She's always been strong. She knows Clarke has to be fighting to stay. Yet, there's this sense, this feeling that no matter how strong and determined Clarke has been that this might be something the alpha wouldn't come back from. There is almost an eerie calm, almost a void where the bond is. Like Clarke is slowly fading away. This is one battle Raven cannot fight for Clarke. Clarke will have to face whatever demons placed inside her mind on her own.

Raven will not let that worry consume her. She has a duty. As her alpha's second, she will ensure everything else possible is done to heal Clarke. Starting with this stranger.

Raven can only shut down some of the worry. Her mind screams questions at her, demands answers. What if this familiar stranger couldn't help? What if he was silently harming Clarke? What if he betrayed them? What if? Why did he smell like an assassin? Yet bore tattoos covering his body; something the assassins never had. Why was he here? Why did he want to help? What was he? Why was he so familiar past knowing him from their one-time encounter? Why couldn't she realize why?

Raven just didn't have answers.

She holds Clarke's hand in her own. Feels the warmth in her hand slowly returning after Raven's blood was given. The moment the second bullet is removed, Raven feels a surge in their connection. A pressure being lifted. Raven's own body sighs in relief. This has to mean Clarke is fighting back. Whatever demons had faced her within could not keep her. Clarke was going to survive. She just knew it. She knew it with every atom in her body. Raven's soul springs to attention and she grips the alpha's hand even tighter as she realizes her alpha would live.

Lincoln stitches Clarke up. Raven removes the pants Clarke wears and the shirt wrapped around Clarke's arms but cut down the middle. Raven washes her of the blood covering her face, and body. Clarke has some colour fluttering through her body now. She'll need more blood, but not yet. She needs rest first. Raven grabs a pair of shorts from the new clothing stash they had bought and gently puts Clarke into them. She leaves her shirtless with just the bra on so that Lincoln can keep checking on her abdomen wound.

Raven ignores Octavia as she watches in the corner, her eyes only for the new man. He could still pose a threat. Her alpha was injured, unable to defend herself. Raven had to pick up the slack. She had to protect her defenceless alpha until she healed. So, she doesn't leave Clarke's side. She waits with her through the worst of it. Waits as Clarke begins to slowly recover and gain back her strength.

Clarke would heal. She would get through this. All she needed now was time and Raven would give her as much as she needed, no matter the cost.

*Bellamy's POV*

Almost an hour after Bellamy gets out of the tub, Octavia comes and finds him. He's been pacing back and forth, probably walking a hole through the floor, but he can't stop. He's nervous. Sure, he's sore and tired and should probably really sit down, but he can't. He can't stop thinking about Clarke in the next room lying on the bed slowly bleeding out. It has been keeping him from sitting down. Keeping him from resting. Just knowing she's injured, severely injured, pains him. Over and over again he tells himself that she's being fixed, and taken care of. She would pull through this because he would accept nothing else.

It's the silent negative thoughts that tear at his control, brick by brick. The thought that whatever Lincoln's doing isn't going to help her. That maybe they were too late. That maybe she wouldn't wake up. That it was his fault for not getting her out sooner. That he'd pushed and pushed and because of it she'd ran even further because she wasn't ready for more, not with him. That that was why she'd resisted doing the sensible thing because he'd pushed too much and scared her away. It had to be her choice. If- When she woke up, it would be her choice. From now on it would be her who decided if whatever was between them would be pursued.

He still feels her. He feels the connection they share deep inside. The one that is ever so slightly there, that builds with each passing day. The one that allows him to know and feel what she's feeling. Right now, through this bond he can feel her holding on. He can feel her fighting to stay. Clarke is fighting hard and she will pull through this.

Because the alternative is so much worse that Bellamy cannot even fathom what he would do.

"Bellamy? Lincoln can look at you now. Okay?" Octavia warily comes into the motel room he waits in. The one next to where Clarke is. He looks at Octavia. He sees she's worried. He knows she cares for Clarke too. That she cares for him and it hurts her to see him like this.

Monroe and Miller had showed up half hour ago, both bloody and beaten, but alive. The relief Bellamy had felt was immense. The two were currently being looked at or well had already been looked at by Lincoln. Bellamy insisted that his pack would be looked after before him. The two had needed bullets removed and stitches and he hoped there wasn't significant damage. Though they'd all been injured, all of his pack, Clarke and his pack, had survived and that's all he cared about.

"Okay, send him in." Bellamy takes his shirt off and prepares himself for Lincoln to come in and look him over. He may have brought Clarke out of the woods, and helped Miller and Monroe but he still doesn't trust him. Not yet. It takes more than that for Bellamy to trust this stranger. Especially with his sister. His pack. His family.

The room next door had been transformed into a medic center, but Bellamy had told each of his pack that the moment they were stitched up and fixed, they were to leave that room and leave Clarke in peace. He needed her to get all the rest she needed. His wolf screamed at him to rush to her side and protect her while she healed, but his human mind told him he'd just get in the way. So, he had waited in this room, pacing. Waiting for her to wake up. Needing her to wake up.

The big burly dark-skinned man walks cautiously into the room. Miller and Monroe follow, both wearing a new set of clothes. Lincoln looks around with a new confidence that irks Bellamy. This was his territory, his pack. This man had no right to feel in charge here. Taking a breath, Bellamy chooses not to voice this. He can't. The wolf did not control him. They were two entities within the same being, connected, yet keeping them separate proved to be difficult. Bellamy did not want to snap this man's head off because the more animal side of him felt threatened and needed to show his dominance.

This guy might be human. No matter who he was, in this moment he had healed his pack mates and he had just come back in from healing the shifter whom Bellamy believed to be his mate. Gratitude was what this man was owed. Now he must be patient and ask the few questions he has without injuring or offending the man who had saved his pack.

"How's Clarke?" These are the first words Bellamy utters to Lincoln since he admitted he loved her. No matter how hard he tried, the words still came out with a bite. Bellamy cannot entirely simmer himself. He was still a shifter whose pack and mate were threatened.

"She's healing. Now that the bullets are out and she's been bandaged, the blood should be working its magic. I can't tell how long it will be until she heals fully or wakes up for that matter, but she's going to be fine." Lincoln strides over to Bellamy. The closer he gets the slower he walks and the more nervous his scent becomes. At least he has the sense to be scared of Bellamy. Bellamy in turn tries to keep his male instincts locked down, but only succeeds so much. He stands taller, despite the aching wound in his side. He doesn't however, growl at the man.

Lincoln eyes begin to shift slightly, not being able to stare directly into the eyes of an alpha male shifter. No matter how hard he dimmed the predator, it always shone through his eyes. Through each of their eyes. It was the one part of them that always remained with a foot in that other world.

"Good." Bellamy settles down with his back against the bed. Lincoln sits on the edge of the bed and freezes for a moment. "I won't bite."

"I don't know if I believe you." Lincoln half laughs. "I don't have any anesthetic. This will hurt." Lincoln looks cautiously at Bellamy, but Bellamy just grins. Sure, it's not exactly a pleasant grin, but he can't help it. His instincts are screaming at him to defend, to protect, to attack and then ask questions. That snarling grin is one way he can dampen those instincts, just enough at least.

"I won't bite your head off, promise. So long as we all live, you live." Bellamy meets the man's steely gaze and sees the resolve there. Bellamy did mean it. He wouldn't hurt him unless he did something to hurt his pack and currently according to the man each member of his pack was going to heal. Bellamy notices Monroe go lie down on the bed beside Fox who is watching everyone and everything wearily. Miller goes to the desk chair where he winces as he sits, and begins to rest his eyes. Bellamy notices Murphy standing in the corner and Octavia waiting behind Lincoln. Bellamy feels Clarke's absence. He needs her at his side, both to help and to just stand with him. He misses her and she's not even gone.

"Let's go into the other room." Lincoln nods towards the door and Bellamy nods. He stands up and follows Lincoln into the other room. His eyes go to the unconscious alpha on the bed before his gaze rests on the beta at her side. Bellamy's wolf leaps for Clarke, but Bellamy stays on his side of the room. He has to get looked at first. If he died, it wouldn't help Clarke. The wolf on the other hand was not having it. Grumbles boom from the back of his head echoing over and over again that that was _his mate_ , lying on that bed unconscious and harmed in need of his protection and he was sitting here doing _nothing_. He wasn't providing what his role as alpha male was for her. He was _failing_ her. He has to shake his head to clear his thoughts. He notices Raven was watching every movement Lincoln made, wearily eyeing him. Good for her. At least he'd have her watching his back as this man attempted to heal him.

Bellamy relaxes back on the bed beside the one Clarke is on and looks to Octavia who has followed the pair in. He notices that she looks worried, but he's sure he's handled worse before. Hasn't he? No come to think of he hasn't really. He's never been shot before. Internally he will admit he is a little worried about the pain, but he was putting on a brave face. He had to show strength in a situation like this. Weakness in moments like this only created viable moments for attack from the outside or even potentially the inside. An alpha was required to be on high alert at all times because they never knew who was waiting, vying for their position and willing to take them out the moment they lost the strength that kept them in authority.

"You ready?" Lincoln gazes down at Bellamy. He nods in return.

Bellamy watches Lincoln grab a scalpel and he prepares himself. He'd been shot. This couldn't be worse than that. Could it? Lincoln puts on a pair of gloves before pressing down on Bellamy's injured abdomen. He feels the moment Lincoln digs the scalpel into his flesh. He bites down the snarl in his throat and just growls instead. His eyes begin to glow and his canine teeth elongate as his body begins to fight the pain. Lincoln pauses and pulls back; probably worried Bellamy would go back on his word and bite his head off.

"Keep going." Bellamy growls low, taking in a few deep breaths before the scalpel begins to draw across his skin. The pain is bearable. Bellamy grits his teeth and thinks of Clarke. Her bright golden hair and sweet-smelling scent. He thinks of how he's going to be better when she wakes up. Thinking of her gets him through the pain.

*Clarke's POV*

Clarke can feel the pain as it racks her body from limb to limb. She feels the way the bullet had punctured her lung. Another in her stomach. She feels it when her body hits the ground. She feels it when her body lights on fire where the bullets tear through her. She feels the pain of a blade on her chest. Feels the moment the bullets are removed, but she can do nothing. She couldn't open her eyes. She couldn't move. She couldn't speak. She was weak and she was injured. She was angry and she was worried.

If she hadn't been so stubborn, maybe she wouldn't be in this position. Maybe she wouldn't be fighting for her life while God knows what went on outside her dark world.

She hoped Bellamy had made it. She hoped Raven and Miller and Monroe had made it back. She hoped both of the assassins were dead. She hoped she wasn't going to die. She knew she wasn't quite dead yet, but she was sure she's on her way there. She knows she is encompassed by a darkness that overcomes her senses until all but the pain is left. No, she didn't want to die. She had so many things left to accomplish. So many things to do. She has a pack to save, a mother to destroy, a family to heal… She couldn't leave them behind. Not when they were in so much danger because of her. If she died, who would take up her mantel?

There's not much she can do though as a calm begins to fall over her. There is suddenly a peace washing over her that she hasn't felt in a very long time. A peace she can only explain as quiet and calm. A quiet her world hasn't experienced since her father was alive. A calm she hasn't felt since she was a child. The pain begins to disappear as she falls into the abyss. It's so dark. So, quiet and calm. There's no pain here. No guilt. No light. She lays there for a while, just soaking in the peace that flows over her. She laughs in what feels like centuries. She cries tears of happiness, something she hasn't done in years. She floats and begins to lose that sense of urgency and care for a world that is now far behind her.

There is no time here in this between life and death place. There is nothing dragging her into that pit of despair or hopelessness she vaguely remembers from before. There is nothing here to call her back to a life she once wanted and now can't even remember. Somehow though, she can't ignore this pull in her chest, something or maybe someone from her past tugging her backwards towards the storm that had become her life. Something tugging her away from the place she wishes she could stay forever. The darkness is so peaceful. It becomes all she knows. What life had there been before that of this absolute serenity?

This place, wherever she remains begins to suck her in. It draws into her soul and tugs her deeper into the silence. All she wants to do is rest. She's been fighting for so long and this calm allows her to finally rest. It's time to forget. It would be easy to forget. She just wants to forget like the darkness whispers to her. It would be so easy to let go and leave everything behind. Maybe once she does she'll see the one who meant the most to her. Maybe she'll see those she'd allowed and watched be murdered thrive once more. Maybe the villain in her story will give up if she just let's go.

Somehow though she can't quite forget. She feels the urgency that there is something she's supposed to be doing or something she's forgot to do. It's that feeling of not remembering if the oven's been turned off or if it remains on threatening to burn down the house. There's also a feeling there's someone she's supposed to be there for. Someone she can't leave behind.

 _Raven._ The name echoes in her mind. The girl who'd been her friend. _Yes, her friend_. Her kindred. The girl who'd stuck with her through everything. The girl who didn't hate her even after her boyfriend had made his move on her. The girl who saved her countless times, who at the risk of her own life had left the life that only _may_ have killed her if she stayed but certainly would if she left. The girl who faced the worst this world had to offer, but still managed to laugh.

 _Bellamy._ Another name rings in her mind. A boy who she thought she'd never get along with nor understand. A boy she thought she'd hate for all of time, but had grown to care for. More than she cared to admit to anyone let alone herself. A boy who called to her, even now. The one whose call to her was so intense, her wolf inside screams out at her to respond. Screams at her to tug back and claim what is rightfully hers. The boy who had somehow become a friend she did not know how to live without. The boy whose blood had brought her back from the brink of death. The boy she refused to acknowledge because her mother destroyed everything she'd ever cared about. The boy she refused to lose because he'd come to mean something to her.

She could feel the tug between the three digging into her chest. A lifeline calling her back. A thread reminding her of who she is and who is depending on her to come back. She can't give up yet. She has work to do. She has so many things to accomplish.

The darkness whispers that she's just so tired of everything. That it would be easy to let go and drift where nothing could touch her or her friends again.

 _No!_ A voice calls to her. _There's people waiting on you. People who need you. People who care for you as much as you for them. They need you to wake up!_

She begins to remember herself and push through the cloudy thoughts dragging her mind into the abyss. She is Clarke Griffin, an alpha to a broken pack who needs her to save them, lead them, be there for them. If she just let go, who would fight for them? Yes, her friends would fight for them. But what would they think? The alpha girl who gave up, who was too weak to live, too weak to save those counting on her. She can't be selfish. She doesn't deserve the peaceful rest that so many others are denied. She doesn't deserve this kind of heaven. She doesn't deserve to find sanctuary with her lost father and friends. She deserves to suffer alongside her friends, until the moment they are all free; body and soul. The friends calling to her. The ones that needed her to live because she gave them a reason to hope. The ones even now her wolf lingers near. The one her wolf pleads with her to go to.

She is an alpha. She is needed. She isn't weak. She isn't dead.

She fights back.

She cannot brandish a sword and shield here, not where there is nothing to wield but darkness. She must fight the demons here with her own mind because that voice, this darkness, it's all coming from her. She is projecting this. She is what she must face. Those fears, those selfish wants, would drag her down.

Letting the light within her memory shimmer through her, allowing her to glow, she begins to fight against the part of herself that wants to be free of her burden, to give up, to run, to let someone else carry the weight.

She thinks of her friends, of the future they can all have. One free of every horror they'd had to suffer through. One where, together, they could heal. She thinks of the future. One she'd once dreamt of and then forgotten because for her, tomorrow might not have come. A future without fear or dread, without the threat of today being the last. A future with laughter and unending joy, with endless tomorrows and the possibility of love.

 _Love._ She could have love again. Not just wish for it, or push it away. She could grasp it and relish in it. For once it could be something to cherish and not to fear. Never again would she fear that those she loved would be taken from her, or turned against her. If she once again embraced love, she would have even more to fight for. A name echoes in her mind. Yes, she could perhaps attempt to find that love again.

With each thought, each dream and wish, she glows brighter, burning the darkness away.

She pushes away the gentle complacency this place has gripped her in. She pushes aside thoughts of rest and forgiveness. She listens to the faint pulse of her heart echoing around her. She reaches out for the silver lining. She reaches for the string connecting her to Raven and then the string connecting her to Bellamy and she pulls. She would find her way back to them. She would find them again. She wouldn't give up. She would fight until her heart beat its last beat. She would fight until all of her family were safe. She would fight forever if she had to because the future that burned so brightly in her mind was worth it. She would fight hard and she would win because she was no longer fighting just to survive and gain freedom, no, she was fighting for their future and she could taste it.

She wouldn't let the assassins beat her. She wouldn't let Jaha or her mother break her. No, instead, she would _live_. She would live to see _them_ bow to _her_. She would live to watch _them_ beg her for _their_ lives.

For however long it took, she would glow. She would glow for her future. She would glow to burn away the darkness within her. She would glow and bask in the light of her own making until there was nothing but unending sun.

When nothing but warmth and light greeted even the darkest parts of her mind, the struggling alpha opened her eyes.

*Bellamy's POV*

After Bellamy had been taken care of, he'd retired back to the room with the other pack members. There he'd been pacing again, even though both Octavia and Lincoln told him he needed to lie down. It had been hours of pacing, waiting, fearing the worst, praying for the best.

He feels it the moment she wakes up. It's as if where the bond connecting the two, suddenly grows brighter, stronger. He hadn't noticed how strong the bond was until it was nearly gone. It's become a constant companion, a part of him that was always connected to her. Whatever it means, he can deal with later.

He's going to be by her side as she comes to, when she has questions. He's on his feet before anyone can ask him what the hell is going on, what he's doing or where he's going. He gets up and moves out of his room towards her door. It feels like it has been ages since he's been by her side or in her presence.

In this moment Bellamy almost runs into the next motel room where Clarke lies. He's lucky Lincoln has just finished stitching him up a while ago. If Clarke had awoken while he was still being stitched up and Lincoln had even tried to hold him back he fears he might have attacked anyone who stood in his way or tried to stop him from going to her.

A nervous energy begins to encompass him.

He shoves down that part of him aching for her. He would go to her as her friend. He loved her and that wouldn't change. No matter how much he wanted her to reciprocate his feelings, or to face what she did feel for him, he would not be anything but her friend. He would not force anything upon her. As much as he wanted to claim her and be done with it, he did not have that right. It would be up to her now, to choose what she wanted with him, whether that be friend or something more.

He feels her through their bond. He understands that she feels confused, a little scared even, but he's going to be there to comfort her while she comes back. He's going to be there to let her know she's safe and he's never going to leave her side again. Not if he can help it.

The moment Bellamy opens the door, he can sense the flutter of Clarke's heart. She doesn't see him yet, but he sees her. The relief he feels is immense. Knowing that she's alive, that she is awake… He can't describe the rush of emotions running through him, but he knows one thing. He knows he loves her. With that in mind he pushes away all other thoughts. He _loves_ her and in this moment, that's all that really matters. Everything else can be discovered later.

Bellamy's eyes rest on her form and finally she begins to turn his way as he strides towards her. There is no pause in his step as he makes for her. His alpha female. His friend. The one he wanted as his mate. He knows without a doubt that she now has the power to break him, but he doesn't care. She's alive and she's right here. She's confused and he's certain. His wolf is calling out to hers and hers is calling out to his.

In this moment, he knows. He just knows. There is no other answer. Not for him, but there could be for her.

Bellamy watches her gaze turn towards him as he knows she senses his presence. Her lips begin to form his name, in confusion or awe he doesn't know. He doesn't really care. She's here and he's here and that's all he knows.

He makes for her and when he reaches for her, nothing can separate them as he closes the distance between them. He wraps his arms gently around her, pressing his nose into her neck and just inhaling her scent. The primal part of him relishes in her scent, in the feel of her arms wrapped around him.

Something wet brushes his cheek and he pulls back to see that she is crying. He doesn't say anything, because he doesn't understand. Did he do something? Had he hurt her?

He searches her face and finds that though there are tears running down her cheeks, there is a smile gracing her lips. He freezes when her hand settles on his cheek, and her eyes search his. He's become a statue as her thumb gently strokes his cheek and her the expression on her face turns to wonder. He's afraid to move, to do anything that might spook her.

Time slows as she brings her face closer to his.

He refuses to blink. She cocks her head slightly and a small smile appears again.

When her lips brush against his, he stops breathing.

He waits for her to move first. When she does, when her mouth is moving against his, there is little to stop him. As their kiss begins to deepen he feels that connection between them growing even brighter. This surge of energy rushes through his bones and jolts him awake.

Her lips are like honey and sugar. Soft and sweet. Inviting and longing.

Bellamy cups her cheek with one hand while pressing his other to her side where he holds her to him. Resting a knee on the edge of the bed, he leans closer to her, ignoring everything but the persistent tug between them.

He knows without a doubt in his mind that she is it for him. There would be no more flings, no more random girls, there would only be waiting for her. This kiss now was a good indication of where this could head and he relishes in the possibility. If they did become more and she ever chose to walk away from him, he didn't think he could survive being only her friend. He would though, if it was the only way to be near her, but he'd been shown the light and he didn't ever want to go back to living in darkness.


End file.
